Ask Lemmy

27240 readers

2534 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

245

What are wheelchair-bound people to do when a building alarm disables elevators? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

97 comments fedilink hide all child comments

We had a false alarm go off in the building where I work last week. The elevators automatically shut down forcing the use of the fire escapes. The building is 22 floors. I was lucky in that I’d just taken the elevator to the first floor to step outside on a break. When they finally let us back in, I wondered what someone with mobility issues is expected to do had the building been on fire. Just die? Have a kind soul carry them? With most people wfh at least a couple of days per week, this seems really dangerous for anyone who might get stranded.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The vast, vast majority of building emergencies are safe to shelter in place. Modern building codes generally prevent fires from spreading too far, and isolate smoke to a specific place in the building.

The exceptions are surprising. In my region, they've approved wood buildings up to 12 storeys . Isn't that scary as hell? Just in general, I mean; but also needing to escape 12 storeys in 3 minutes before fire consumes its favourite food? Super scary.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think that's only possible with laminated wood, and apparently it's made thick and dense enough that fire affects it more slowly than normal. From my understanding it's a safe building material.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

It requires safe design principles to address the specific concerns with timber/wood construction, but some places are starting to do the research to show how wood can be made safe. This interview with a fire safety engineer talks about the state of the industry in different regulatory jurisdictions.