The UN reports that the world's population has now passed the point where 50% live in urban environments, the trend is rapidly continuing towards increasing urbanisation*. That will result in more high-rise offices and living accommodation.
High-rise structures (e.g. offices, hotels, cranes, oil rigs etc.) can suffer catastrophic events such as natural disasters, accidental fires, or deliberate acts of terrorism. Despite heat-shielded or positive-pressure stair wells, people still can find themselves trapped with no way out.
The public is increasingly concerned with safety. Reports from the USA indicate that many people have taken the drastic approach of buying parachutes to use if they are trapped. Many hotel guests insist on rooms on lower floors, and in a recent survey of occupants of high-rise buildings in New York, 92% of respondents are quoted as wanting additional escape systems.
Fire-rescue personnel on all continents express a currently unmet need for being able to rescue people from upper floors of high-rise buildings. The current need is so great that some fire-rescue consultants have suggested that, even if escapees get injured in the process of saving their lives, this would still be preferable to the current inability to get people out of the building.
Local and national governments are taking the issue very seriously. For example, the New York City Council passed resolution 396 which calls for alternative escape and rescue systems for high-rise buildings. The Malaysian Ministry of Housing has stated an interest in finding mass-evacuation systems to be retro-fitted to buildings in the city of Kuala Lumpur. In the USA a government sponsored review has identified that there is need for more metropolitan fire brigades and equipment including “aerial” equipment for high-rise buildings in order that national standards are met by the regional fire-rescue services**. Some government agencies are discussing implementation of new minimum standards for the evacuation of high-rise buildings.
The solution:
In order to meet this pressing need we developed LifeSlide®***, an innovative and unique mass-evacuation system for saving people trapped in high-rise buildings or on industrial structures. People who cannot escape via conventional fire exits tend to go upwards. LifeSlide® provides elevated exit points. Using LifeSlide®, escapees can rapidly and safely descend to the ground outside of the building.
LifeSlide® works without an external power supply - of critical importance during a crisis.
LifeSlide® requires minimal actions on the part of the escapee, which is critical in times of panic amongst the public. The system works effectively for all users with a short time between each user. Usage of the system requires minimal training and has no limitations regarding height, weight or fitness of the escapee. Additional facilities will be provided for the evacuation of the injured.
Preliminary estimates are that 300 - 400 people per hour can escape from a high-rise building via a single LifeSlide® installation. Multiple units can be installed at for example, every 5th floor and on the roof of the high- rise building to increase the capacity to upwards of 3,000 escapees per hour in the case of a 50 floor building.
LifeSlide® utilises existing technologies in innovative ways*** and has been proven in early functional tests during Q3 2007. The permanent version of LifeSlide® has no height limitation, is modular in design and can be (retro-) fitted to any high-rise building facade.
The story-board below gives a simplified impression of how LifeSlide® works in practice.
Story-board - LifeSlide®
When the fire alarm sounds it triggers standard signals in the building and the fire station. . . (2)
(2). . . Occupants within the building don their LifeSlide (personal unit) harness - just like on a ship or in an aeroplane. . . (3)
(3) . . .and (if their exit is blocked by fire etc) they proceed to the LifeSlide exit nearest their immediate location in the building. . . (4)
(4). . . where trained staff check each evacuee to ensure they have their LifeSlide harness correctly fitted. . . (5)
(5) Trained staff supervise each “departure”. . . (6)
(6) The evacuees descend via the descent track without further skill requirements or controls/inputs by themselves. . . (7)
(7) The LifeSlide exit unit automatically breaks the evacuee's descent within safe limits and automatically releases the evacuee. . . (8)
(8). . . who then walks out of the way of the next evacuee, before removing their harness.
Click to view a video demonstration of the working model of LifeSlide®
For more detailed product information please contact us directly.
