Hidden Handicaps Place Everyone At Risk

By JOHN GLENN, MBCI

The other day we had a fire drill where I currently hang my hat. When the alarm sounded, I was on the 12th floor of a 13-story building. As planned, the four elevators shut down and everyone was forced to take the stairs to street level. As I passed the 11th floor I saw a woman standing at the open stairwell doorway, flagging people through. Since she was not wearing a red fire warden cap, I wondered what prompted the woman’s hesitation to join the growing crowd heading down the stairs.

At first glance, nothing seemed unusual.
But on second glance, I discovered the reason for her willingness to be at the end of the line. The lady was “with child” and apparently felt unable to keep up. Rather than slow others down, or worse, be trampled, she elected to stay back.
I’ve written a fair amount about people with handicaps, or to be politically correct, “impairments.”
But, being who I am, I never considered pregnancy a “mobility” handicap. A father of three should have realized this before, but there is a big difference between being a “father of three” and being an expectant mother even for the first time.
While the lady in question is a “lady in waiting,” she brought to mind that new mothers also may move a little slower, and a little more carefully, than they did even the day before the new arrival arrived.
As business continuity planners we consider the risks of the mobility impaired, both those who work in the building and those visiting the building

Obviously ... or Not
We think about Ernie in the wheelchair and Jane who has a red-tipped cane nearby.
Frank, who is not mobility impaired but is deaf, is less worrisome. Our primary concern for Frank is making certain he “gets the word” when the alarm goes off.
Almost totally overlooked are the mothers-to-be.
Sometimes we never know there is a pregnant woman in our midst. Most of the time, women who are “just a little” pregnant can perambulate without a problem. Most of the time.
The ladies who are in the third trimester may find getting around a little more difficult.
Navigating stairs can become a challenge, especially going down. Going up may be breath taking, but it usually is less dangerous than descending.
(Gentlemen, always descend in front of the ladies and ascend after them. The original reason was if the lady tripped on her skirt, the gentleman could break her fall. Skirts are shorter now, but falls still occur – and etiquette still has its place.)
I write plans that call for use of “buddy systems;” schemes that match the mobility or hearing impaired with others who can help those people move safely to safety. Usually I like to have “buddy teams” of three or four people. That way, if one helper is away for any reason, there is a backup.
Having a buddy plan for a pregnant co-worker or visitor may present some “different” problems.
For a multitude of reasons, the ideal buddy is another female. A man may provide a cushion in case of a fall, but there simply are places “off limits” to a male buddy (in the normal course of events – when lives are jeopardized, all other concerns must be ignored).
While most new mothers will be on a well-deserved maternity leave after the big event, many have a temptation to visit the workplace – theirs and their spouse’s – to introduce the world to the newest addition.
They, too, have a mobility issue; very new mothers often also are very slow movers. Painfully slow.

Depth Perception Deserves Attention
There is another woman in the building who is vision-impaired. No glasses. No cane. In fact, unless she told you – as she did me – that she has a problem, no one would think she would have trouble descending stairs.
But she does have a problem.
Her vision prevents her from judging the distance from one step to another. She can make her way down, but slowly. As long as people give her some space, she’ll eventually reach street level.
But one bump and she, or our pregnant lady, could go tumbling. Bad enough, but as they fall down the stairs, they most assuredly will take others with them – the domino-effect with people.
The fire drill that called these “handicaps” to my attention was just a drill. Management, which sets off the alarm, makes an effort to notify managers before the event so people with problems can ride the elevators down before the alarm sounds and the elevators stop moving.
Seems fair enough.
In truth, it’s dangerous and could result in loss of life.
The only pressure from the fire drill was the nagging, irritating alarm. (I was on the 12th floor when the alarm sounded, so I had plenty of time to enjoy the noise.)
Inject a little smoke into the exercise and what was a controlled descent might have tuned into a panic. All it takes are one or two people to create chaos going down flights of stairs.

A Little Help From My Friends
I preach, “Never, never plan in a vacuum.”
I practice what I preach.
As I was writing this I asked some other planners to put in their two cents. Several did, much to my delight.
Tess Smalley volunteered that some other “out-of-sight” disabilities include people with a heart condition. Add a less-than-perfect heart to the pressures of stairs and not knowing if the alarm is “for real” or not and you have the potential for disaster.
Smalley also reminded that not all disabilities are permanent. What about, she suggested, someone with a sprain or break in a bone that hobbles them?
My woman with the vision problem has the problem all the time. Smalley asked, “What about the person whose glasses just broke or whose contacts popped out. Seeing the stairs may be difficult. Same with glasses that fog up with a temperature change.”
My answer, of course, is “buddy system.”
One problem the buddy system may not resolve is panic, but the answer here may be, “training, training, training.”

Personal Responsibility
The people with impairments – permanent or temporary – have an absolute responsibility to share the information with management or, in the case of visitors, with their hosts. On the other side, management must officially commit to a policy which does not discriminate against the employee with an impairment. (That does not mean management can’t move an employee to a job which reduces a person’s risk.)
The folks charged with crisis management need to know not only who is present, but who may need assistance to move to a safe site (evacuation or in-place shelter).

Elevators – Shut Down or Leave on?
We learned we don’t necessarily need to shut down elevators in the event of a fire. Certainly we don’t need to shut down elevators on floors beneath a fire.
According to Michael Courton, a New York City-based business continuity planner, there is discussion to revisit building evacuation policies on elevator use to assist in evacuations. Current fire department policy for high rise buildings states that initial evacuation is limited to the involved floor and one floor immediately above and below the involved floor.
Having elevators available to the mobility impaired – those with obvious impairments and those with hidden impairments – could be justified in most buildings with proper safety procedures in place.
I realize human nature would have more than just the mobility impaired riding an elevator to safety, but I am convinced that most able-bodied men and women would make the trek down the stairs as they do today. We saw that on 9/11.
Surely there is technology economically available that can prevent elevators stopping on floors where smoke or fire is detected, or a positive-pressure elevator system.
Business continuity planners must do everything we can to protect an organization’s most important resource – people. (If you don’t believe people are critical, try running the business without staff.)
I have never seen an organization staffed entirely by people without some impairment.

Planners to the Fore
We, as planners, need to do several things.
One, people with “hidden handicaps” must be encouraged to share their conditions with management. Very few organizations penalize women for becoming pregnant, and if a person was good enough to employ in the first place, a limited visual handicap should be overlooked. Management cannot be faulted if it doesn’t know about a condition; the burden in this case is on the employee.
Two, encourage management to develop a policy that encourages personnel to share information, knowing they will not be penalized.
Three, push for a review of what this scrivener considers antiquated evacuation procedures which fail to take advantage of mechanical devices (ie. elevators). At the same time, encourage technology to prevent the elevator from stopping on an impacted floor. Most people can make it one to three floors via steps. Some will need assistance, other patience. Knowing an elevator is waiting within a couple of floors may make it easier for the unimpaired to help, or at least not hinder, less mobile people.

John Glenn, MBCI, has been helping organizations of all types avoid or mitigate risks to their operations since 1994. Comments about this article or others at http:/johnglenncrp.0catch.com, may be sent to johnglennmbci@gmail.com.

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