Watchdog Highlights Accessibility Flaws in UK Venues

ASHTEAD, U.K. - Jan. 18, 2016 - PRLog -- The 2015 Watchdog report highlighted the fact that whilst venues generally make sure they have the necessary equipment and measures installed to comply with accessibility legislation, unfortunately in many cases, staff did not possess sufficient knowledge to enable them to use this equipment when required.

Dr Alistair Bromhead, a specialist in health, safety and environmental issues in the UK and Europe and managing director of Alistair Bromhead Ltd (http://www.abromhead.co.uk/), UK wide providers of various types of health and safety training, said that seeing the report brought to mind something that he had become very aware of: the fact there are often great gaps when it comes to keeping skills up to date in the use of evacuation chairs.

Dr Bromhead said, “Evacuation chairs are very important pieces of equipment used to evacuate disabled people from buildings in emergency situations. The problem is, whilst buildings and venues generally tick the box that says chairs must be available for use when necessary, in many cases they are lacking competent people to operate them.

“A lot of the buildings we visit have had evacuation chairs installed in the past few years, and had arranged some training at the point of purchase. However, using the chairs is a very perishable skill, and without regular refresher training, operators will quickly lose confidence.”

When faced with an emergency situation, this is obviously an alarming thought. Even more so when a building is open to members of the public who will not be familiar with the chair or the person handling it. A nervous operator will not instil peace of mind in an already concerned evacuee, and in some instances this could lead to them refusing to get into the chair altogether.

“Further issues include a lack of regular servicing of the equipment,” Dr Bromhead continues. “This can lead to unpredictable behaviour when in use on a staircase, and is clearly not something anyone wants to be faced with in an emergency situation.”

The solution to these issues says Dr Bromhead is to arrange regular refresher training in the use of evacuation chairs. “It is understandable that because there are numerous different makes of chair on the market, it can be a challenge to organise training if there is a range of brands throughout your building. It can also make it something of a task to arrange servicing.

“At Alistair Bromhead Ltd we offer two independently run evacuation chair courses, both of which can cover a range of different chair models. Additionally, one of our trainers is qualified to service a wide variety of evacuation chairs, so both services can be combined for total convenience.”

To find out more about the evacuation chair operator course visit http://www.abromhead.co.uk/patient-handling-train-the-trainer.asp and for details of the evacuation chair train the trainer course go to http://www.abromhead.co.uk/evacuation-chair-train-the-trainer.asp. All courses can be fully tailored to specific needs. For bookings and enquiries call 0800 710 1099.