Appendix 1: Glossary of Terms
Note acknowledgement at end of page.
- Accessibility
- Ease of independent approach, entry and/or use of a facility
with an assurance of individual health, safety and welfare
during the course of those tasks, usually to a widely accepted
standard such as BS8300.
- Compartment
- A part of a building (comprising 1 or more rooms, spaces or
storeys) constructed to prevent the spread of fire or smoke
from another part of the same building.
- Disability
- Disability in relation to a person means a substantial
restriction in the capacity of the person to carry on a
profession, business or occupation in the State or to
participate in social or cultural life in the State by reason
of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual
impairment - Disability Act 2005.
- Egress
- Independent emergence of user(s) from a building and
immediate vicinity.
- Evacuation chair
- An evacuation chair can facilitate the transfer of people
with significant physical disability in event of emergency
egress. It is a purpose-designed unit which is usually wall
mounted and stored in a refuge area or in a prominent position
on the route of escape. These units are not suitable for
transfer of all people with disabilities and staff assisting
should be trained in their use.
- Evacuation lift
- A lift designated to have additional protection, with
controls that enable it to be used under direct control of the
fire brigade or competent person to assist with evacuation.
- Fire fighting lift
- A lift designated to have additional protection, with
controls that enable it to be used under direct control of the
fire brigade in fighting a fire.
- Fire resistance
- The inherent capability of a building assembly, or an
element of construction, to resist the passage of heat, smoke
and flame for a specified time during a fire.
- Fire safety strategy
- A coherent and purposeful arrangement of fire protection and
fire prevention measures which is developed in order to attain
specified fire safety objectives.
- Inclusive design
- Design of an environment that can be used equally by
everyone, regardless of disability, age, ethnicity or
gender.
- PEEP
- Personal Emergency Egress Plan is a way of matching the
capabilities of an individual building to the needs of
individual disabled employees.
- Refuge area
- A building space directly adjoining, and visible from, a
main vertical evacuation route - robustly and
reliably protected from heat, smoke and flame during and after
a fire - where people may temporarily wait with
confidence for further information, instructions and rescue
assistance without obstructing or interfering with the
evacuation travel of other building users.
- Safety zone
- Refer to refuge area
(above).
- Signage
- Type of graphics created to display information or
directions of a particular location.
- Tactile
- Profiled surface or finish providing guidance or warning to
blind and partially sighted people, e.g. blister paving is a
style of tactile paving used to provide guidance at
crossings.
- Two-way communication system
- This system allows communication typically between occupants
of a refuge area and a management control point during
evacuation.
- Wayfinding
- This is the process of identifying, travelling along and
adhering to a suitable route -usually comprising 2 main
components - the negotiation of obstructions or features and
navigation of a route or direction.
Acknowledgement
The NDA acknowledges that the Glossary (Appendix 1) should include a reference to Harmonized E.U. Vocabulary - Useful Terms & Definitions Relating to Disability & Human Perception
from Sustainable Design International Ltd., in relation to the definitions for Accessibility, Egress, Fire Resistance and Fire Safety Strategy.
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