A Study on the Safety Evaluation of Escape Routes for Vulnerable Populations in Residential Facilities

Abstract

The continued increase in human lifespans is accelerating the aging of the population in most countries. The increase in elderly care facilities corresponds to a relative increase in the number of people who are vulnerable in the context of evacuation. For example, an elderly care hospital is a representative facility for vulnerable populations as regards evacuation, as residents in such a hospital cannot evacuate themselves in the event of a fire. It is therefore necessary for such buildings to formulate detailed evacuation plans that consider the walking situations of their residents in the event of a disaster. In this study, the fire dynamics simulator (FDS) was used to calculate the available safety escape time (ASET)—which is the point at which evacuation is impossible from the ignition time of the fire—for inpatients in nursing hospitals. The required safety escape time (RSET), which is the time required to move to a safe place, was calculated by reflecting a patient’s evacuation speed using Pathfinder. In addition, the evacuation route was simulated with three variables—stairs, elevators, and ramps—along with the movement pattern. The simulations of evacuation performance evaluation based on time analysis showed that there were differences in the number of fatalities depending on the choice of evacuation routes and movement patterns for each disabled group. Evacuation using ramps was confirmed to reduce fatalities from at least 48 to up to 60 people compared to evacuation using stairs or elevators. The usage of ramp evacuation in elderly care hospitals has proved to be superior to other evacuation routes in ensuring the safety of vulnerable persons during fire evacuation.