Brandskydd i eget boende : Brand- och utrymningssäkerhet för personer med funktionsnedsättning

Around 130 persons dies in fires every year and many of them where elderly who died in their own home. Elderly often have some form of disability that reduces their capacity for action in case of fire and makes them more vulnerable to a fire. The number of fatalities in fires is a problem and the purpose of the study is to try to identify the fire- and evacuation safety for persons with disabilities. Hopefully this thesis can contribute to an improved fire safety in the own housing for persons whit disabilities. The questions in the study deals with reasonable fire protection in own housing for persons with disabilities, what responsibility the individual has for the fire protection and who will take over if the individual is unable to meet that responsibility.The thesis was preformed through a general literature study focusing on fire and evacuation safety for persons with disabilities. Data mainly consisting of reports, studies, legal text and statistics were collected. Qualitative secondary data were collected through a general literature review where the gathering was mainly from Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), Swedish Board of Housing, Building and Planning, The National Board of Health and Welfare and the Riksdag of Sweden. From Statistics Sweden (SCB) and MSB qualitative data in the form of statistical information were collected.From the statistical material it could be seen that more than one third of the total amount of fatalities in residential fires had a disability. The proportion and number of fatalities with a disability also increases with age. The population forecast for Sweden shows that the population will grow and the number of elderly will increase. There will likely be more people with some form of disability in the society. Most of the studied reports show that most fire fatalities happen in residential fires. In case of a fire there is a fundamental rule to act according to, namely save-warn-alarm-extinguish. The most central term is save and in case of a fire it is important that everyone can get out from the dwelling. Evacuation is therefore a central part of the actions in the event of a fire. The evacuation process consists three parts, time to perception, time for preparation and travel time. The total evacuation time can not exceed the time until the critical conditions occur. Different types of disabilities can contribute to an extended evacuation time in some of the various parts of the evacuation process.A reasonable fire protection is primarily that people should be able to evacuate the building without being seriously injured and before critical conditions occur. To determine which actions that can be considered reasonable to add in order to create a reasonable fire protection is often difficult. It varies from case to case and the benefits of protection should be balanced against the cost of the action. To achieve a reasonable fire protection it has to be customized for each individual person. The adaptions can be both organizational and technical. The individual’s responsibility for the own fire protection is regulated in Lag (2003:778) om skydd mot olyckor (LSO). According to LSO the municipality should support the individual if he or she has problem to cope with their responsibilities regarding the fire protection. The ability for another person to take over the responsibility is not clearly regulated. It is positive that the responsibility remains with the individual but everyone have the rights to get help. To increase the ability to create a reasonable fire protection for individuals with disabilities Lag (1992:1574) om bostadsanpassningsbidrag m. m. (BAB) should be revised to clarify what types of adaption actions it supports. The requirements for the Fire Safety in Buildings should be increased for certain types of housing intended for elderly and people with some form of disability. Information material should be developed for persons with disabilities and their families and also for actors who work with persons with disabilities.Validerat; 20130826 (global_studentproject_submitter