Evacuation plans for employees with disability

Your organisation’s evacuation plan needs to include your employees with disability. Consider the different needs of your employees when you develop your plans. These plans are also called emergency plans or emergency evacuation plans.

What is an evacuation plan?

An evacuation plan explains what happens if employees need to quickly get out of the workplace in an emergency. As an employer it is your responsibility to:

• make an evacuation plan
• put the evacuation plan in a place where everyone can easily access it
• keep the plan up to date
• provide information and training to all employees on the emergency procedures in the plan.

Personal emergency evacuation plans

You might have to develop a specific evacuation plan for each employee with disability. These plans are called personal emergency evacuation plans. These plans should include things like:

• diagrams of the location and evacuation route
• information about the person’s disability and access needs
• who will assist them
• safe areas where they can wait for assistance.

To learn more about emergency plans and download a template, visit the Safe Work Australia website.

What to consider in the plan

Before you create or adapt your evacuation plans, talk with your employees who feel they may need assistance. Allow them to let you know if they need support so you can make plans in advance to meet their needs. Some employees with disability may already know a lot about any specific help, equipment and adjustments they might need.

If you are working with a Disability Employment Services (DES) provider, they may also be able to give advice. The following are some tips for what to consider in your evacuation plans for employees with disability.

Wheelchair users

When planning for wheelchair users:

• if possible, make sure fire wardens know about any employees with mobility issues
• ask the person what they prefer for ways to move them
• make sure there is enough space in fire-isolated stairwell for a wheelchair user to turn around
• fire-isolated stairwells are protected from fire and smoke
• consider installing evacuation chairs or devices.

In the case of an evacuation, tell emergency services there are wheelchair users in the workplace. This is particularly important if your workplace is a high-rise building.

Using evacuation chairs

Evacuation chairs help to safely evacuate people with mobility issues down stairs. When using these chairs, you need to consider work health and safety risks – you don’t want to make the emergency situation worse. Only use the chair if you have been trained to do so. 

Before moving someone to an evacuation chair:

• ask for their consent
• ask if they have any medical or other conditions you should be aware of
• explain to them, how you’ll lift them to the chair and where you’re taking them.

If someone is lifted from a wheelchair during evacuation:

• if possible and safe, ask others to bring the wheelchair
• if the wheelchair is left behind, make sure it doesn’t block exit routes
• bring the person and their wheelchair back together as soon as possible.

People who are deaf or hearing impaired

When planning for deaf or hearing impaired employees:

• if you can, install a flashing light alarm in all work areas and bathrooms
• if you can’t install a flashing alarm, make sure a co-worker can help anyone who is deaf or hearing impaired in an evacuation.

People with vision impairment

When planning for employees with vision impairment:

• Install tactile ground surface indicators leading to fire stairs.
• These indicators help guide and assist a blind or vision impaired person of a change in the surface.
• Install brightly coloured step edges in fire stairs, or other edge tapes.

People with anxiety or other mental health conditions

When planning for employees with anxiety or other mental health issues, it may be helpful for a co-worker to be a ‘buddy’ in an emergency.

Reviewing the plan

Employers must review evacuation and emergency plans regularly. You should also review your plans if:

• the workplace moves or there are changes to the layout
• the number of employees in the workplace changes
• the employee’s tasks or activities change
• you’ve tested the plan and it doesn’t work.

Support for workplace adjustments

If you need to make changes in the workplace to support employees with disability, you may be able to get funding through the Employment Assistance Fund (EAF). The fund can help cover the costs of physical changes, equipment and services.

Visit Funding for changes in the workplace for more information or contact one of our JobAccess Advisers.