Residents' Evacuation Capability in Buildings

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8 few residents driving the wheel chairs themselves. % 50 40 30 No walking aids Walkers or trestles Managing the wheel chair oneself Need help to manage wheel chair 20 10 Service flats Old age homes Group dwellings Figure 2. Using walking aids and wheel chairs. Percentage distribution in various types of care housing. The percentage of residents able to move horizontally by themselves in one way or another is 93 % in blocks of service flats, 81 % in old age homes and 83 % in groupresidential units. This is worth consideration in design of housing for the elderly. Pace of movements. Elderly peoples« way of moving about as an personel characteristic has many features in common [6]. There is material for comparison between residents in care housing and persons, of more than 65 years, living in ordinary dwellings. The distribution of four pace classes are very alike in the three housing forms studied. Treated as one group they often move a lot slower than others of the same age. 34% 34% 24% 9% 17% 30%31% 17% 6% Figure 3. Percentage distribution on pace classes among care housing residents compared with an observed distribution among persons more than 65 years old. Residents Evacuation Capability in Buildings…., Gun Hallberg, Domotic Lab. KTH, Stockholm 1993
9 The variable 'pace of movement' can be translated from 'very slow' etc to metres per second. Using data from three investigations [7], [8], [9] of walking speeds of elderly people and my own studies of peoples« movement behaviour[6], I have found that 'very slow ' corresponds to 0.7 m/second, 'slow' to 1.2 m/second, 'rather quick' to 1.5 m/second and 'quick' to 2 m/second. As many residents as possible should be able to move by themselves to a safe place in anemergency. Thus the slowest group must decide the time needed for an evacuation. Even the slowest persons are able to move horizontally by themselves to a certain degree, between 62 and 74 % of them. Very few of them, about 4 %, are able to use stairs. So, we have to count on a maximum speed of 0.7 m/second when making evacuation plans and building design. Lack of respons to alarm. About 40 % of the care housing residents need to be wakened personally, depending on impaired hearing or on medication. Orientation difficulties. Among residents in group-residential units there are, as expected, only a small percentage not having problems to find their way within the building. This often means that they do not understand and remember evacuation instructions. At least half the number of residents have these difficulties in old people« homes, only a third in blocks of service flats. 90 No orientation difficulties 80 70 Having difficulties sametimes Having usually orientation difficulties 60 50 40 30 20 10 Service flats Old age homes Group dwellings Figure 4. Orientation difficulties. Percentage distribution in various types of care Residents Evacuation Capability in Buildings…., Gun Hallberg, Domotic Lab. KTH, Stockholm 1993
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Page 15 and 16: The average need for assistance per
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Residents' Evacuation Capability in Buildings

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