Personal Evacuation Plans for Employees with Disabilities

Why must an evacuation plan for a disabled employee be personal?

The general emergency plan says “when the alarm sounds, go from the nearest exit to the assembly area”. For an accountant who uses a wheelchair and works on the first floor, a packaging operator who cannot hear the alarm or a switchboard operator who cannot follow the escape route by sight, this sentence is not enough. An evacuation plan for a disabled employee is a short addendum that sets out, name by name, how the general plan will be applied for these people.

The legal basis is clear. Under Art. 10/4 of the Regulation on Emergencies in Workplaces, measures are taken to ensure that elderly, disabled and pregnant employees and children in the crèche are escorted during evacuation. Art. 10/1-ç of Law No. 6331 also requires the situation of groups needing special policies, such as disabled employees, to be taken into account in the risk assessment. The regulation does not use the term “personal plan”; however, it is the clearest way to show who will apply the escort measure, how and with which equipment. In international practice, this document is known as a “personal emergency evacuation plan”.

Evacuating disabled people requires more preparation than general evacuation, but it does not require a complex system. Workplace adjustments and fitness-for-work assessments for disabled employees are a separate subject; we covered it in our article on fitness for work and workplace adjustments for disabled employees. This article focuses only on evacuation.

What does a personal emergency plan contain?

The plan is prepared together with the employee. The person knows their own needs better than anyone; it is hard to predict how an employee who has not taken part in the plan will act in a drill. A form of no more than one page is enough:

Person and location: Name, department, the floor and room where they work; their shift.
Need: The condition affecting evacuation (e.g. cannot use stairs, cannot hear the alarm). No diagnosis is written; only the information needed for evacuation.
Alert: How they will receive the alarm (visual alarm, vibrating pager, message, notification by the escort).
Route: The escape route they will use and a back-up; if they need to remain on the floor, the safe waiting point.
Escorts: Main and back-up escort; separately for each shift.
Equipment: Evacuation chair, guiding torch, the person’s own assistive device.
Communication: Who will report the presence of the person at the waiting point to the protection team and the fire brigade, and how.
Drill record: The date it was last tested and the result.

This information may qualify as health data. Share the form only as far as the emergency teams need, obtain the person’s consent and keep access to the file restricted. For details, see our article on employee health information and data protection (KVKK).

Evacuation method by type of disability

Situation	Alert	Evacuation method	Point to watch
Mobility impairment (wheelchair, crutches)	Standard alarm	Direct exit on the ground floor; evacuation chair or safe waiting point on upper floors	Lifts are not used in a fire; the person’s own wheelchair is brought afterwards
Visual impairment	Audible alarm, announcement	The escort guides them by offering an arm; steps and doors are described verbally	Offer an arm rather than pushing or pulling the person; a guide dog is evacuated with them
Hearing impairment	Visual alarm, vibrating device, message, escort	Normal route	Whether there are visual alarms in toilets, stores and rooms where people work alone
Temporary conditions (leg in plaster, after surgery, advanced pregnancy)	Standard alarm	Escorted evacuation as appropriate	The plan is opened temporarily and closed when the period ends

Mobility impairment: A “DO NOT USE IN CASE OF FIRE” sign is mandatory in the lobby outside the lift car (Art. 62/8 of the Regulation on the Protection of Buildings from Fire). An emergency lift arranged for the evacuation of disabled people is mandatory only in buildings over 51.50 m in height (Art. 63). In most factory and office buildings, therefore, there are two options: bringing the person down the stairs with an evacuation chair, or waiting at a protected point until the fire brigade arrives. If the building has a fire safety lobby, the regulation states that these lobbies are also built so that disabled and injured people can wait there when necessary (Art. 34).

Evacuation chair: A tracked or braked piece of equipment designed for controlled descent on stairs. Carrying an employee in your arms or in their wheelchair can injure both the person and those carrying them; an evacuation chair reduces this risk, but only trained people may use it. The chair is placed on the floor where the person works, near the stair landing and in a way that does not narrow the escape route.

Hearing impairment: The regulation requires evacuation alarms to be both audible and visual; visual alarm devices are not mandatory in areas where hearing-impaired people are not likely to be present (Art. 81/3-a). If you have a hearing-impaired employee, this exception no longer applies to that area; check that the visual alarm can be seen in all areas where the person works, rests and goes. For the marking rules on escape routes, see our article on emergency exit and directional signs.

Assigning escorts

The escort can be the weakest link in the plan: on days when they are on leave, on sick leave or on another shift, the plan collapses. Follow these rules when assigning escorts:

Proximity: The escort should be someone who works in the same area and at the same hours as the disabled employee.
Back-up: Every escort has a back-up. Art. 11/8 of the Regulation on Emergencies requires shift patterns to be taken into account when appointing support staff and their back-ups; the same logic applies to escorts.
Willingness and suitability: A person who will use an evacuation chair must be physically suitable and accept the task.
Training: The escort knows the person’s plan, the equipment and the safe waiting point. Support staff in the rescue team are also made aware of these plans; for team training, see our article on support staff training.
List: The escort list is added to the emergency plan and updated when staff change.

In the post-evacuation headcount, the protection team reports a person remaining at the waiting point not as “missing” but as “location known” and passes this information to the fire brigade. For the headcount arrangement, see our article on choosing an assembly area.

Test the plan in a drill

A plan on paper is an assumption until it has been tested in a drill. A drill is held at least once a year, and its date, the deficiencies found and the corrections to be made are written on the drill form (Art. 13). For personal plans, look for answers to these questions on the form:

When did the person receive the alert? Did the visual alarm or message work?
How long did it take the escort to reach the person? Was the main escort present?
Was the evacuation chair in place and usable?
Was the person at the waiting point correctly reported to the protection team and the fire brigade?
Did the person feel safe? Did they suggest changes to the plan?

First trials with an evacuation chair can be done with the person’s consent, with an empty chair or on a short section of stairs. In workplaces with night shifts, the test should be repeated at least once with that shift’s staff; for shift arrangements, see our article on emergency teams on night shifts. The general set-up of a drill is in our article on how to run an emergency drill.

Common mistakes

Writing the plan without asking the person: The person’s own method and preference are ignored, and it does not work in the drill.
Relying on a single escort: Without a back-up, there is no plan on days off.
Relying on the lift: Lifts are not used in a fire; in a power cut, the person may be trapped in the car.
Placing visual alarms only in corridors: A hearing-impaired employee may miss the alarm in the toilet, the archive or a room where they work alone.
Not updating the plan: When the employee changes floor or department, the plan changes too. The emergency plan is renewed at least every 2 years in very hazardous, 4 years in hazardous and 6 years in less hazardous workplaces; personal plans, however, must be updated with every change.

In workplaces in Bursa and the surrounding provinces where we prepare the emergency plan, we write personal plans for disabled employees together with the employee and test them in drills. For the scope of the service, see our emergency plan page, and to track drill and plan renewal dates, our OHS calendar tool. For the structure of the general plan, read our article on how to prepare an emergency plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a separate evacuation plan for a disabled employee mandatory?

The regulation does not use the name “personal plan”, but it clearly requires measures to ensure that disabled employees are escorted during evacuation. A personal plan showing who will apply this measure and how is the most suitable way to document the obligation.

Can an employee who uses a wheelchair use the lift in a fire?

No. Lifts are not used during a fire. Either bringing the person down the stairs with an evacuation chair by trained people, or a protected waiting point until the fire brigade arrives, is planned.

How many escorts should there be?

The legislation does not give a number. Appoint at least one main and one back-up escort for each disabled employee; in shift work, appoint them separately for each shift. If an evacuation chair is to be used, the escort must be trained on this equipment.

Is health information written in a personal evacuation plan?

No diagnosis is written. Only the need affecting evacuation (such as being unable to use stairs or hear the alarm) is written, with the person’s consent, and the information is shared only with the emergency teams.