Evacuation chairs: A survey to assess the state of the art and desirable features from the perspective of decision makers
[ 1 ] Wydział Inżynierii Zarządzania, Politechnika Poznańska | [ 2 ] Instytut Inżynierii Bezpieczeństwa i Jakości, Wydział Inżynierii Zarządzania, Politechnika Poznańska | [ SzD ] doctoral school student | [ P ] employee
PL Krzesła ewakuacyjne: ankieta mająca na celu ocenę stanu techniki i pożądanych funkcji z perspektywy decydentów
2023
scientific article
english
- people with disabilities
- evacuation
- means of egress
- evacuation chair
- stair travel device
- stair descend device
- consumer’s expectations
- participatory design
- ergonomic quality
- osoby niepełnosprawne
- ewakuacja
- środki ewakuacyjne
- krzesło ewakuacyjne
- urządzenie pokonujące schody
- urządzenie schodowe
- oczekiwania konsumentów
- projektowanie partycypacyjne
- jakość ergonomiczna
EN The evacuation chair allows safe and efficient evacuation of people with disabilities or injuries from buildings during emergencies. Therefore, evacuation chairs need to be effective in various conditions of use. It is crucial to know how to choose the right evacuation chair and how to integrate it effectively into a specific evacuation system. The article aims to identify expectations for evacuation chairs and to evaluate the level of familiarity with how they work of people organizing an evacuation system. This goal was pursued by surveying 41 people who plan and implement evacuation systems in buildings. The analysis of the research results shows a deficit in practical knowledge concerning the operation of evacuation chairs; consequently, it justifies and suggests the need for further action in this area. The respondents chose the answer that seemed to be as safe as possible without having to go into details. They were unable to effectively define the right expectations for evacuation chairs. The training of chair use should include brake functioning, the role of the belt securing the head and a leg belt. Users have partially conflicting demands for the chair, which shows a lack of established criteria, probably due to the lack of practical experience in the use of emergency chairs. The decision-making model and the factors that affect purchase should be examined to determine their needs more precisely. The specific needs of all three groups of users should be established, and potential antinomies between features should be recognized and overcome. The study also suggests that future research should focus on the decision-making process, ergonomic quality and measuring the impact of training on the actual effectiveness of the evacuation system. In addition, the study also highlights the need for in-depth research and consideration of user needs in the design process.
24.08.2023
7 - 18
CC BY (attribution alone)
open journal
final published version
24.08.2023
at the time of publication
public
100