Building Managers

Research on Evacuating Persons with Mobility Impairments:

Questionnaire for Building Emergency Manager and/or Property Manager

Purpose

This questionnaire is being conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The focus of this research effort is two-fold: a) to gain an understanding of how building occupants with mobility impairments currently evacuate multi-story buildings in the United States during fire emergencies, and b) to learn about the concerns of persons with mobility impairments on using elevators during fire evacuations. This questionnaire will ask you to provide information on your building’s emergency plans and procedures, including how the buildings’ evacuation plans incorporate the use of the existing elevator system to evacuate occupants with mobility impairments during fire emergencies. A copy of the fire evacuation procedures for the building is requested.

This questionnaire is the first step in this research effort. Following its completion, we request your help in sending our study information to likely participants in the building. They will be asked to fill out a second questionnaire and, if willing, may be interviewed one-on-one for a more detailed understanding of their views and experiences.

Completing this questionnaire is voluntary; however, your assistance would be greatly appreciated to help improve the safety of the building occupants.

Background

1. How many floors are in the building? ____

2. What are the main activities that take place within the building?

Please select all that apply:

• Office work

• Serving the public

• Museum exhibits

• Conferences

• Educational classes

• Entertainment

• Laboratory research

• Manufacturing

• Other Please state: ___________________

3. Does the building have any of the following features? (Check all that apply)

• Occupant Evacuation Elevators (OEE)

• Atrium

• Escalators

4. How many people work in the building? ____

5. Approximately how many people working in the building have mobility impairments? ____

6. Please estimate the number of visitors that are in the building at the same time during a normal day ____

7. Please estimate the percentage of these visitors who have a mobility impairment ____ %

8. How are you made aware of the individuals with disabilities in your building on any given day? (Check all that apply)

• General knowledge of occupants and visitors

• List of names

• Office locations

• Contact information

• Other _______________

Fire Evacuation Procedures

9. How are occupants made aware of the building evacuation procedures? Please list all methods here: ______________________________________

10. For what reasons are building occupants required to evacuate the building?

(Please select all that apply)

_ Emergency drill

_ Fire

_ Other emergency Please specify: ____________________

11. Do emergency procedures require that occupants without mobility impairments evacuate the building during a fire? Y/N/Don’t know/NA

12. Do emergency procedures require that occupants with mobility impairments evacuate the building during a fire drill? Y/N/Don’t know/NA

13. If persons with mobility impairments are required to evacuate the building during a fire, what options do they have?

(Please select all that apply)

• Stairs

• Evacuation chairs or stair descent devices

• Escalators

• Elevators

• Other Please specify ______________________

If escalators are an option, is the power to them cut during a fire emergency? Y/N/Sometimes/Don’t know/NA

14. If elevators are an option:

1. How many elevators are available for use during a fire evacuation? ____

2. How many people can be transported at the same time (i.e. sum of the capacities of all elevators used for evacuation during a fire)? ____

3. Are elevators restricted during a fire emergency for use by those with mobility impairments only? Y/N/Not specified

4. If elevator use is not restricted during a fire emergency, are people with mobility impairments given priority? Y/N/Not specified

15. Do emergency procedures require that tenant employees with mobility impairments are provided with assistance during a fire emergency? Y/N/Not specified

1. If yes, who assists them? ___________________

16. Do emergency procedures assign responsibility for providing building visitors with mobility impairments with assistance during a fire emergency? Y/N/Not specified

1. If yes, who assists them? ___________________

Fire Evacuation Training

17. Are persons with mobility impairments given additional emergency training? Y/N

1. If so, what is the nature of the training? ____________________

18. How often are fire drills carried out? _____ (# of times per year when the building population practices the fire evacuation procedure specified by the emergency plan)

19. Who is required to participate in fire drills?

(Please select all that apply)

• Building employees

• Tenant employees

• Visitors

NOTE: This collection of information contains Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirements approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the PRA unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to be 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Attn: Kathryn Butler, kathryn.butler@nist.gov, 301-975-6673.

OMB Control No. 0693-XXXX

Expiration Date: XX-XX-XXXX