We are very excited to let everyone know that the Universal Design Meets the Exit Sign promotional video has also now been released.
It is available on the Universal Design Meets the Exit Sign website at the moment, as well as on YouTube. It will be loaded onto a dedicated page on this website very soon.
Check out the new website too, there’s lots of great information.
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the The Accessible Exit Sign Project promotional video has been released.
It is available on the Universal Design Meets the Exit Sign website at the moment, as well as on YouTube. It will be loaded onto a dedicated page on this website very soon.
Enjoy!
Lee Wilson, Founder of the Accessible Exit Sign Project was approached late last year to write an article for the Asia Pacific Fire Magazine, which has now been published in the International Fire Protection Magazine, Issue 61.
You can now download a copy of the article by clicking the image above or this link
This is reproduced with permission from www.ifpmag.com
The following is an extract of the opening of the article:
A gap exists in many countries legislative framework relating to the evacuation of people with disability under disability discrimination, building and workplace safety laws. This gap exposes those members of the community with disability, particularly those with sensory or mobility disabilities to the risk of being delayed in their ability to evacuate a building or being entrapped within a building.
In 1997 the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) acknowledged this gap and recognised the need to improve the provisions for access and emergency egress for people with disability. The ABCB published RD 97/01, Provisions for People with Disabilities, a Regulatory Document which proposed an amendment to the Building Code of Australia (the ‘BCA’). The proposed amendments included radical changes to the access and egress provisions, including the requirement for accessible exits or places of safe refuge, or a combination of the two. Most of the access provisions proposed at that time were subsequently introduced into Volume 1 of the 2011 edition of the BCA, part of the National Construction Code. The access provisions have generally remained unchanged in subsequent editions of the BCA.
The Accessible Exit Sign Project has been featured on page 3 of Issue 85 of The Professional Engineer journal, published by the Society of Professional Engineers.
A full copy of the article can be found here – http://www.professionalengineers-uk.org/pdfs/newsletters/ProEng-issue85.pdf
The article announces that Safety Sign Sales Ltd in Christchurch, New Zealand are now a licensed partner of the project.
The Society of Professional Engineers is based in the UK, but has an international membership. Please consider visting the Society’s website and reviewing their great work.
We would like to announce that GBC Safety Glow in the United States is now a licensed partner of the Accessible Exit Sign Project.
To get a PDF copy of this Media Release, dated 12 January 2015 click the link below;
Media Release 2 February 2015 Licensed Partner – GBC Safety Glow
The contact details for GBC Safety Glow are provided below:
GBC Safety Glow is a manufacturer of Photo-Luminescent products on a global scale. Manufactured in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, U.S with local people and state of the art technology. The company has built a reputation on providing quality products through quality people. The GBC Safety Glow team will assess your facilities needs with an onsite walk through anywhere in the U.S and abroad. They will work directly with your safety team and or local building or fire inspector and create a plan to become code compliant. GBC Safety Glow design, manufacture and coordinate installation on every project no matter what the size. People helping People is their approach!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank GBC Safety Glow for their support of the Project and commitment to improving the built environment for people with disability in the form of supplying accessible exit signs.
We encourage signage companies around the world to become licensed partners of the Accessible Exit Sign Project. By doing so you will not only present as an organisation that considers corporate social responsibility a priority, but you’ll also have a unique product in the market place. You can then use the Icon on our designs, or you can design your own signs to suit your needs or local legislative requirements. We also encourage all those involved in public infrastructure projects to consider the use of the ‘Accessible Means of Egress Icon’ within your own projects as we can also work on project specific license agreements.
Please contact us at info@egressgroup.com.au, we’d love to add you to our list of licensed partners.
I had a really good question sent to me on LinkedIn today, the LinkedIn user commented they were unsure if building inspectors in the United States would accept the Accessible Means of Egress icon on exit signs, and asked if they are acceptable in my home country (Australia). Here’s my response:
“Thanks for your comment and question. The signs will be available in the US very shortly, we’ve just signed up our first licensed partner to the Accessible Exit Sign Project (and are accepting other partners now too).
The design is being offered as a variation from the ISO 7010 / ISO 21542 example and is considered to be a more inclusive design. We do however acknowledge that when using any design solution that varies from a specific countries building code or technical standards it must be approved by the relevant authority. However, many countries now have ‘performance-based’ building codes and facilities are getting more and more reliant on fire engineering to satisfy building code requirements – this could be one of those areas that is considered. We are confident that the inclusion of the new recognizable Icon will benefit any exit sign strategy.
We also acknowledge that this may take some time for adoption, given there is still some parts of the world debating whether to use the “EXIT” word on exit signs or the Running Man design (Australia changed over in 2005). But regardless, the use of the new Icon could also be used to complement the design of locally required signs, and this is certainly the case with the Australian Braille and tactile exit door sign, which has the Icon above the required words in Braille and tactile characters (see my profile photo for an example).
Australia and New Zealand have performance-based building codes and these signs are now on the market which can be adopted as part of an ‘Alternative Solution’.
The following is an extract from a fact-sheet on the topic:
“An ‘Alternative Solution’ has been defined as a building solution which complies with the Performance Requirements other than by satisfying the ‘Deemed-to-Satisfy’ provisions.
The Australian Building Codes Board has been quoted as stating that the use of a performance-based approach to compliance “provides practitioners with a strong degree of flexibility to determine the most appropriate means for demonstrating compliance with the relevant Performance Requirements”. This therefore allows some level of creativity in how compliance (or a compliant building solution) can be achieved.
A performance-based approach could be extended with the use of enhanced exit signs under a fire engineered solution. Such a solution could be used to show an accessible means of egress to a safe place outside the building, a safe refuge within the building or the locations of evacuation lifts (or elevators).
This approach has to be a better solution that what would be provided under a ‘Deemed-to-Satisfy’ design solution.”
Please visit this link to read more:
https://accessibleexitsigns.com/accessible-means-of-egress-icon-fact-sheets/“
We would like to announce that Braille Sign Supplies in Australia is now a licensed partner of the Accessible Exit Sign Project.
To get a PDF copy of this Media Release, dated 12 January 2015 click the link below
Media Release 12 January 2015 Licensed Partner – Braille Sign Supplies
The contact details for Braille Sign Supplies are provided below:
Braille Sign Supplies stocks a large range of fully compliant Braille Signs and also proudly manufactures custom Braille / Tactile signs to assist people who are vision impaired.
Using quality materials and superior craftsmanship, they offer fast delivery Australia-wide with a large range of Stock Braille Signs to choose from in their online store. They also offer their clients the opportunity to stand out from the crowd with Custom Braille Signs made to order, with or without the use of the ‘Accessible Means of Egress Icon’.
All signs provided come complete and ready for easy self-installation. Braille Sign Supplies signs comply with Australian Standards, the Building Code of Australia, and Wayfinding Guidelines, and feature perfectly rounded beads to create a smooth and user-friendly raised tactile Braille text.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Braille Sign Supplies for their support of the Project and commitment to improving the built environment for people with disability in the form of supplying accessible exit signs.
We encourage signage companies around the world to become licensed partners of the Accessible Exit Sign Project. By doing so you will not only present as an organisation that considers corporate social responsibility a priority, but you’ll also have a unique product in the market place. You can then use the Icon on our designs, or you can design your own signs to suit your needs or local legislative requirements. We also encourage all those involved in public infrastructure projects to consider the use of the ‘Accessible Means of Egress Icon’ within your own projects as we can also work on project specific license agreements.
Please contact us at info@egressgroup.com.au, we’d love to add you to our list of licensed partners.
Accessible Exit Sign Project 