SCHOOL EVACUATION CHAIRS

School Evacuation Chairs

ESSENTIAL FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN

Why we need a school evacuation plan

Imagine that you are in a wheel chair on the landing of a stairwell in a school emergency.  Your school friends and teachers have evacuated the building, leaving you behind.  This is a very real situation and school emergencies are common place, whether it’s fires, active shooters, terror attacks or unplanned releases of chemicals. It is the school systems moral, ethical and legal responsibility to safely evacuate everyone in the event of one of these emergencies, not just the able bodied.

School systems must act now and have the capacity to move all students, staff and visitors with temporary or permanent disabilities to a safe location immediately at the time of an emergency event.  More often this involves evacuating a student, staff or visitors downwards, which can be a challenge for those who are unprepared.  However, using an Evac Chair® school evacuation chair, it makes it feasible and straight forward to evacuate mobility impaired occupants down stairs to safety in any emergency.

Identifying and preventing risk is a crucial part of emergency planning in schools and should never allow leaving anyone behind because they are differently abled. Pre-planning for an emergency in a school is imperative in today’s world. School systems must have the capacity to move all persons with disabilities to a safe location immediately in any emergency situation. Sheltering in place and waiting for first responders to arrive and rescue may not be safe or the best option. Robust emergency and evacuation planning should be part of a student’s 504 plan and IEP process. Plans should be comprehensively written according to the student’s needs and be attached to the 504 or IEP.

This plan should insure and include:

• Full risk identification and prevention
• Drills (identifying obstacles  as they arise and before an emergency occurs)
• Equipment required and its usage
• Training needs
• Post drill evaluation to inform any changes necessary etc.

Staff and visitors with disabilities can also be at risk. School administrators and staff should develop a plan to necessitate provisions and share the information with all people concerned. Through the entire process, the school system has a moral, ethical and legal responsibility to keep their whole community safe in the event of an emergency.

School Evacuation Chairs

The Evac Chair® school evacuation chair is a light weight, easy to use by a single person, which glides effortlessly down stairways using its unique friction treads to assist with the quick and safe evacuation of students, school staff or visitors who are mobility impaired. The Evac Chair® school evacuation chair is of a unique construction and has a dual position seat for passenger comfort and ideal for a school child or an adult.  

The Evac Chair® school evacuation chair is the World’s No.1 evacuation chair and was inducted into the World Trade Center Museum. The Evac Chair® is currently on display for saving the lives of several individuals that were confined to a wheelchair during 9/11.

Schools must protect every student, staff member and visitor at risk including those with physical limitations, at the time of an emergency and it is recommended that an Evac Chair® school evacuation chair be utilized and incorporated as part of a student’s 504 and IEP process.  School staff must also be trained on the use of Evac Chair® school evacuation chairs.

School Evacuation Chairs, these are now essential for the Safety of our Children. 

DOWNLOAD OUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO EVACUATING EDUCATIONAL PREMISES

Includes advice on:-
PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
EVACUATION PLANS (GEEPS/PEEPS)
EVACUATION EQUIPMENT
PLUS AN EVACUATION CHECKLIST

SCHOOL NEWS

Evac+chair helping Superior School DISTRICT with emergencies

KBJR6-News-Item-Image

News item source – KBJR6

SUPERIOR, WI– When the fire alarm goes off there’s only one priority; getting out of the building.

For people with physical limitations that can be especially challenging.

Physical therapist Mason Bacso says, “It could be from you know a genetic disorder say cerebral palsy. To a broken leg that just makes getting down the stairs tough.”

In the last year, the Superior School district has added a solution.

They’re called Evac+Chairs.

Bacso says, “These chairs are able to slide down the stairs to get the student out of the building safely when they’re on the second or third floors.”

The chairs which have rubber skis on the bottom help guide the chair down the stairs.

He says, “Those skis push into the stair and help slow the descent of the chair as it goes down the stairs.”

They’re new to Superior High School and Cooper Elementary this year.

But they’ve been at other schools in the district for a few years now.

Every school in the district that has multiple floors has at least one chair.

The high school has one on each floor.

All to ensure safety for everyone.

Basco says, “If we were stuck waiting for the fire department it might be too late. For those students that can’t get down the stairs, this expedites their time to be able to exit the building tenfold.”

District officials say they haven’t had to use the chairs in a real emergency.

But they have been practicing with them to be prepared.

They were not able to comment on the cost of the chairs.

Duluth School officials say they also have evacuation chairs throughout the district.

EVAC+CHAIR SCHOOL EVACUATION CHAIRS

School Evacuation Chairs

The Evac Chair® school evacuation chair is the World’s No.1 evacuation chair and was inducted into the World Trade Center Museum. The Evac+Chair® is currently on display for saving the lives of several individuals that were confined to a wheelchair during 9/11.

DOWNLOAD OUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO EVACUATING EDUCATIONAL PREMISES

Includes advice on:-
PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
EVACUATION PLANS (GEEPS/PEEPS)
EVACUATION EQUIPMENT
PLUS AN EVACUATION CHECKLIST