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Elevators, 

Fire, and 

Accessibility 

Papers presented at; The 2nd Symposium on Elevators, Fire, and Accessibility 

Baltimore, Maryland 

April 19 - 21,1995 

Sponsored by; American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

Accessibility Equipment Manufacturers Association 

American Hotel and Motel Association 

US Architectural and Transportation Bamers Compliance Board 

Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc. 

Building Owners and Managers Association International 

Council of American Building Officials 

Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association 

International Conference of Building Officials 

National Association of Elevator Contractors 

National Association of Elevator Safety Authorities 

National Association of Vertical Transportation Professionals 

National Elevator Industry, Inc. 

National Easter Seal Society 

National Fire Protection Association 

National Institute of Standards and Technology Building and Fire Research Laboratory 

Paralyzed Veterans of America 

Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc. 

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers 
Elevators, Fire and Accessibility 151 

ELEVATORS AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN JAPAN: 

FROM ACCESSIBILITY TO EGRESSIBILITY? 

by Satoshi Kose, Dr. Eng. & Akihiko Hokugo, Ph.D. 

ABSTRACT 

With a rapid aging of its society, Japan is trying to 

prepare for the graying of the building usefS. A new 

law on accessibility of the aged and the physically 

disabled is now being introduced, but it is not 

obligatory nor does it refer to anything on 

"egressibility." Will Japan recognize the accessibility 

requirement as universal to all buildings, or will the 

issue be taken as relevant just to a limited number 

of buildings? Are people prepared to accept 

accessibility requirements during emergencies as 

well as in daily situations or will they prefer to leave 

it untouched? Will there be any good ways toward 

providing safety for the aged and the disabled 

during fires? This paper presents current moves in 

Japan, and discusses problems and opportunities. 

It first explains the general context, then gives 

information on elevator regulations. Thereafter, new 

examples and proposals are shown, and possible 

directions discussed. 

INTRODUCTION 

Japan has long assumed that building users are all 

heafthy, robust people. Although the Japanese 

Building Standard Law states that it is for the safety 

and sanitation of building users, the viewpoint of 

non-average building users is almost nowexistent. 

(Even the viewpoint of "safety in use" has largely 

been negl ected.... For example, stairs don't have to 

have graspable handrails in a general sense. What 

is called as a handrail is actually primarily a 

guardrail to prevent a free Wl to sideways.) 

It is no wonder. More than 40 years ago when the 

Law was first established, few nonaverage persons 

were visible in town, still fewer moving around alone 

(It is perhaps worth noting that some of the basic 

ideas in the articles of the Law may date back as 

early as 1919 when the Building in Urban Areas Law 

was first made as a nationwide buiding control 

measure). Majorities of dwellings were single 

storied, most commercial facilities were low rise, 

and only rarely peopie had to go to upper floors. 

There were many people around who were ready to 

assist people with disabilities (mostly informally, inhome care in particular). Average length of life of 

Japanese people was less than 60 that very few 

aged persons were visible in the outside, either. 

Those 65 and over have stayed only 5% of the 

population until 1960s. 

Unfortunately, partly because there was no regular 

revision process for the law, and partly because 

Japan was too slow to recognize the importance of 

giving consideration to non-average people, nonstandard situations, the provision for people with 

disabilities has been a kind of special privileges, not 

the norm. Even the increase of people with 

disabilities in town, and even the designation by the 

United Nations of the International Year of Disabled 

Persons (IYDP: 1981) or the International Decade of 

Disabled Persons (IDDP: 19834 992), didn't succeed 

in pushing through accessibility provisions in the 

Building Standard Law. Wrth the recognition of the 

emergence of a highly aged society, it suddenly 

came into the minds of ordinary people that Japan 

has to be made accessible to the aged and 

disabled persons. Only in 1994, the Ministry has 

submitted to the Diet a special Law (Act) to 

promote construction of buildings to be accessible 

with financial incentives. It became into force in 

September 1994 with its design standards. Its 

effectiveness is still to be seen. 

As to fire safety issues (and anti-seismic issues), the 

situation was a little different. Multiple loss of lives 

in building fires (and damages to buildings from 

severe earthquakes) almost invariably led to the 

tightening of the Building Standard Law, its 

Enforcement Order and Enforcement Regulations. 

Introduction of new types of building structures also 

triggered discussions on how to secure life safety of 

occupants there. For larger buildings with a large 

number of occupants, therefore, fire safety 

requirements are supposed to be strict enough to 

safeguard lives (but again only life safety of people 
152 Elevators, Fire and Accessibility 

with average abilities in mind), 

JAPANESE REGULATIONS ON 

ELEVATORS 

What about elevators? Like in most countries, 

Japanese custom is to tell building occupants not to 

use elevators in case of a fire (and an earthquake); 

use emergency stairs instead. Virtually no 

discussion was there before the introduction of ADA 

and its Accessibility Guidelines were widely known. 

Perhaps, it was only in September 1992 when 

Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) had a small 

symposium that the architects and designers were 

reminded of the issue of life safety of people with 

disabilities in a more general context (AIJ, 1992). 

As a panelist one of the authors pointed out the 

difficutties encountered (Kose, 1992~)~ and one of 

the panelists who used a wheelchair replied that he 

never came up with the idea before: Accessibility (in 

outside is maximum 3Om. 

0 The cage must be controllable by responsible 

persons as needed. 0 Telephone communication systems be provided 

in the cage. 0 Elevator doors should be able to be kept open 

during fire fighting operation. 

0 Emergency power supply be provided for 

operation. 

0 The elevator speed be 60 m per minute or 

greater. 

A queer thing about building smoke control is that 

Japanese regulations normally assume smoke 

exhaust (extraction/ venting, Le., dilution of smoke), 

but not pressurization (keeping smoke away from 

space). A British architect called this kind of 

manner"conservative.' Anyway, it seems to make 

things more complicated as to how to secure 

smokefree environment for emergency elevators 

and their lobbies as well as emergency staits. 

itsnarrowersense) waswha! heand hiscolleagues 

had sought for until then. The use of emergency in case of 

emergency is not assumed by people who can't 

In the Building Standard Law, there are provisions 

of "emergency elevators ('elevatory equipment for 

emergency use' is the semi-official translation of the 

Japanese legal term, but I refer to it here as above)" 

for use by fire fighters in case of a fire, for buildings 

of exceeding 31m in height (Article 34 Paragraph 2 

of the Law). The requirements are basically as 

follows (Article 129.133 of Enforcement Order. The 

translation is modified by the authors for 

clarification): 

0 Number of emergency elevators will be 1 up to 

1,500 sq. m per floor; there must be 1 

additional every 3,000 sq. m per floor. 0 Passenger lobbies be connected to each floor 

space; be open to outside air, or smoke 

exhaust system be provided: entrance doors 

from occupied floor to passenger lobbies be fire 

resistant (Type-A); passenger lobbies be of 

fireproof construction; finishing materials be 

non-combustible; passenger lobbies be 

provided with emergency lighting; floor area be 

10 sq. m or more per elevator; be installed with 

fire extinguishing equipment; be with signs 

indicating necessary information. 

0 Hoistways be fireproof construction with 

maximum two elevators in one unit. 0 Walking distance on escape floors (Le., ground 

floor or equivalent) from the lobby to the 

climb down emergency exit stairs. Only with the 

discretion and under control of fire fighters, will they 

be allowed to use. No explicit statement is given as 

to the possibility of the use of emergency elevators 

by those who have difficutties going down 

emergency stairs. In most cas8s, however, the 

emergency elevators are placed next to the 

protected emergency stairs, mostly sharing the 

space with access lobby to the stairs and 

passenger lobby of elevators. tt is therefore likely 

that people with mobility difficulties will be rescued 

by fire fighters in due course as their prime 

responsibility is to save lives of occupants as well 

as fire extinction. 

NEWLY EMERGING IDEAS 

Some of the buildings where occupants or users are 

expected handicapped in the sense of egress 

capabilities (buildings for the aged and disabled 

persons, etc.), the concept of fire safety is being 

devised to make it easier to secure lii safety of 

occupants in case of a fire. There are only limited 

examples of elevators designed for use during 

egress of people with disabilities. They are 

proposed when they apply for approval of Fire 

Safety Planning to the Building Center of Japan. 

The application process is assumed to be a 

preliminary stage for getting building permission to 
Elevators, Fire and Accessibility 153 

certain kinds of buildings (large scale, high-rise, 

etc.) that they must be taken as examples of 

advanced, well-thought-of design, not the normal 

practice. 

Ideas include: To make elevator design similar to 

high rise buildings (even for low or medium rise) by 

separating elevator and lobbies from the occupiable 

space to the far side of the building, to be exposed 

to outside air; To make floor plan completely 

separable to two (or more) identical compertmented 

areas, etc., and making every area to be countable 

as an area of refuge from other parts. The idea has 

long been used for larger-scale hospital buildings. 

Generally, this allows extended evacuation time, and 

the elevators could be used for evacuation if they 

are reliable (i.e., no fear of power failure, orderly 

use, overriding possibilities, etc.). 

The following two examples show schematic 

diagram of such arrangements for recent proposed 

buildings. Both buildings house spaces for use by 

people with disabilities - a rehabilitation mom (Fig. 

1) and a technical aids showroom (Fig. 2), etc.- 

that some of the building occupants are expected 

to have difficutties using emergency stairs. They 

both use outdoor balconies as the area of refuge. in 

addition to the protected lobby of emergency 

elevators, because the lobbies are primarily 

intended for use by fire fighters and thus they can 

be narrow if there are more than a few number of 

persons with disabilities on specific floors, or if such 

lobbies have to be the crucial space for fire fighting 

operations. 

The two examples shown here differ in its concept 

on the assignment of emergency stairs. It seems to 

be based on the assumption of occupant load, 

apparently rehabilitation rooms being more crowded 

when training is in progress. The size of the 

outdoor balcony also reflects such possibilities. 

UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS CAN 

ELEVATORSBEUSEDFOREGRESS? 

There is another new move, from the side of the 

elevator manufacturers. After detailed examination 

of the ways matters are handled in the States and 

7 BMCONY AS THE AREA OF REFUGE 

CORRIDOR 

I EMERGENCY I STAIR 

pr LOBBY 

I.L 

EMERGENCY ELEVATOR 

EMERGENCY ELEVATOR 

; FOR PEOPLE WITH 

’ DISABILITIES 

, EMERGENCY ,’ ELEVATOR 

’ FOR FIRE BRIGADE 

REHABILITATION ROOM 

BALCONY AS THE AREA 

1 

OF REFUGE I 

v 

L. CORRIDOR 

TECHNICAL AIDS 

SHOWROOM 
154 Elevators, Fire and Accessibilrty 

in England, they are trying to present Japanese 

proposals for elevators to be used for egress of 

people with disabilities. The principles as I am told 

are not so much different from what are accepted in 

other countries. Their draft report (Technical 

Committee on Elevators, 1994) states that the 

followings are basic requirements for elevators to be 

usable for egress of people with disabilities: 

Call from elevator lobbies should be negated 

during emergencies. Rather, specially trained 

and designated staff with assistant be ready to 

operate elevators for rescue of people with 

disabilities. To enable this to occur, 

communication devises be provided in elevator 

lobbies. Vieo cameras installed in lobbies will 

assist to check the status of urgency in these 

lobbies. Temporary area of refuge (elevator 

lobbies) be provided. Emergency power Wpply 

is advisable. 

In order to make the above workable, the 

following features will be necessary: 

Elevator lobbies specially for people with 

disabilities (areas of temporary refuge) be 

provided (this means that if the number of 

disabled occupants is large, in such buildings 

as rehabilitation centers, they have to be wide 

enough to hold all occupants who have 

difficutties in negotiating stairs); the hoistways 

and lobbies be pressurized against smoke 

intrusion; lobbies be connected to emergency 

stairs, or safe route be provided; fire control 

center be provided for operation; elevator 

operator and assistant should work for rescue 

operation; elevator operator should be directed 

from control center for operation; emergency 

operation of elevators be call-back and operator 

controls; elevator lobbies at each floor should 

be provided with communication systems for 

request of operation; clear signs be provided 

that the elevators will be out of operation for 

those who can climb down stairs. 

The above operation should be basically under 

the control of building management, and only 

be done at the initial stage of a fire. It is also 

possible that emergency elevators be used for 

egress of people with disabilities, but 

communication system will be needed. 

The authors basically agree what ate stated above. 

One dilficulty the authors noticed is the concept of 

emer~mcy power supply. Their draft proposal 

states that emergency power supply is advisable, 

not mandatory. It can lead to a cage being trapped 

between floors upon power failure. Even though 

the operation be limited to the initial stage, the risk 

of power failure shouldn’t be underestimated. After 

all, fatal fires have almost always been triggered by 

the occurrence of unthought of incidents, that we 

should take into account the merits of 

redundancies. The provision of emergency power 

supply and its robustness is crucial to safeguard 

elevators in operation. 

The incident at the New York WTC demonstrated 

that thoughtful planning of emergency power supply 

is essential for effective operation. A more recent 

incident at the Osaka Airport during flooding of 

underground emergency power station in 

September 1994 (just after the moving out of its key 

functions to the New Kansai International Airport), 

which paralyzed the function of the airport, again 

demonstrated the issue. Completely separated two- way power supply may reduce the risk to a 

negligible degree, but this requirement should at 

least clearly be stated. The use of emergency 

elevators to evacuate people with disabilities until 

the Fire Department arrives will cause no troubles, 

provided that appropriate communication systems 

are installed in the lobby. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS 

The emergence of a highly aged society, and easier 

access for people with disabilities is sure to unveil 

the crucial problems in Japan as well as in other 

countries. The above proposal would be a first step 

toward accessible “and egressible” built environment 

in Japan. As researchers specialized in human 

factors, and building users among the Japanese 

baby-boomer and its succeeding generation, the 

authors wish to have suggestions from experts 

around the world and to see the situation in Japan 

changed for a better future. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The authors would like to express their gratitude to 

the Technical Committee on Elevators of the Japan 

Society of Industrial Machinery Manufacturers for 

permission to use its draft proposal as a basis of 

present discussion. 

NOTE 
Elevators, Fire and Accessibility 155 

The word "egress" is originally to be paired with 

"ingress," not with "access." However, for me, a 

non-native speaker of English language, "access" 

and "egress" sounds a good pair, thus I decided to 

use the words "egressibility" as a term having the 

meaning of "(outbound) accessibility during 

emergencies." It appears in page 329 of IAPS12 

Proceedings, Vol. I, in a convener's foreword to a 

Symposium "Lifesafety Design of Buildings for the 

Disabled and Aged Persons: A Cross-Cuhural 

Comparison." When I suggested Dr. Jonathan Sime 

of JSA in the U.K., he accepted the expression and 

his presentation title was, "From Access to Egress: 

Life Safety of People with Mobility Difticulties in 

Buildings." page 333, lAPSl2 Proceedings, Vol. I: 

Book of Abstracts, 1992. I also used the word 

egressibilw in my own abstract, page 330, and its 

full paper, "Lifesafety Design of Buildings for the 

Aged Persons: Recent Developments in Japan," in 

IAPS12 Proceedings, Vol. V: pages 324427. Up 

until now, I have not yet heard any strong 

objections; instead, I found someone other than me 

using the Same word, egressibility. 

REFERENCES 

AJJ (1 992) Life Safety of People v&h DisabilMes 

during Fires, 6th Symposium on Safely of Buildings 

Preprint, Building Safety Planning Subcommittee of 

the Architectural Institute of Japan (in Japanese). 

AIJ (1993) Fire Safely and Elevators, 7th 

Symposium on Safety of Buildings Preprint, Building 

Safety Planning Subcommittee of the Architectural 

Institute of Japan (in Japanese). 

ASME (1 991) Symposium on Elevators and Fire, 

ASME. 

Barrier Free Environments (1994) Areas of 

Rescue Assistance, ADAAG Tech Sheet Series, 22p. 

Juillet, E. (1990) Fire Safety of People 

Vulnerable to Disasters. in Kenchiku Gijutsu, No. 

470, pp. 191-196 (in Japanese). 

Juillet, E. (1993) Evacuating People with 

Disabilities. in Fire €ngineering, 146(12), pp. 1o(r 

103. 

Kose, S. (1992a) Barrier-Free Design in Japan. 

in Building Design for Handicapped and Aged 

Persons (G.M. Haber & T.O. Blank, eds.), MacGraw 

Hill, Chapter 2, pp. 15.26. 

Kose, S. (1992b) Lifesafety Design of Buildings 

for the Aged Persons: Recent Developments in 

Japan. In Socio-Environmental Metamorphoses: 

INS 12 International Conference Proceedings, Vol. 

V: Buittscape, University of Thessaloniki, pp. 324- 

327. 

Kose, S. (1992~) Life Safety of the Aged and the 

Disabled: Recent Move in Foreign Countries. in 

Preprint of 6th Symposium on Safety of Buildings, 

Building Safety Planning Subcommittee of the 

Architectural Institute of Japan, pp. 3.9 (in 

Japanese). 

Kose, S. (1993) Emergence of Aged Populace: 

Who is at Higher Risk in Fires? in Proceedings of 

CIBW14 International Symposium and Workshops 

Engineering Fire Safely in the Process of Design: 

Demonsttating Equivalency, Part 1, University of 

Ulster, pp. 5M4. 

Kose, S. (1 994) Accessible Environment for the 

Aged Society: Need of Barrier-Free Legislation in 

Japan. to appear in Proceedings of the 2nd 

Bilateral Workshop between /te/y and Japan, The 

Building Research Institute 

Ministry of Construction (1990) The Building 

Standard Law of Japan (in English). (Building 

Guidance Division & Urban Building Division, eds.) 

The Building Center of Japan, pp. 3536, pp. 220 

222 

Ministry of Construction (1994) The Act on 

Bui/dings Accessible and Usable for the Elderly 

and the Physically Disabled (Law No. 44). 

Pauls, J. & Juillet, E. (1993) Life Safety of 

People with Disabilities: How Far Have We 

Progressed? in Proceedings of CIB W74 

International Symposium and Workshops 

Engineering Fire Safety in the Process of Design: 

Demonstrating €quivalency, Part 1, University of 

Ulster, pp. 17-40. 

Saxon, R. (1994) The Atrium Comes of Age. 

Longman. 

Sime, J. (1992a) Access and Egress for 

Handicapped Persons in Public Buildings. in 

Building Design for Handicapped and Aged 

Persons, (G.M. Haber & T.O. Blank, eds.), MacGraw 
156 Elevators, Fire and ACC~SSIDIIII~ 

Hill, Chapter 10, pp. 153-163. 

Sime, J. (1992b) From Access to Egress: Life 

Safety of People with Mobility Dfficutties in 

Buildings. in SocioZnvironmental Metamorphoses: 

INS12 International Conference Proceedings, Vol. 

I: Book of Abstracts, University of Thessaloniki, p. 

333. 

Technical Committee on Elevators (1 994) study 

Repon on the Use of Elevators during Emergencies. 

Japan Society of Industrial Machinery 

Manufacturers: Tokyo (in Japanese). 

Dr. ssnoslu' Kose is the Head of the 

Building Design and Use Division of the 

Building Research Institute (6 RI) , Japanese Ministry of Construction. He 

specializes in building ergonomics and 

user safety design and deals w'th issues 

for people with all abilities, aged persons 

in particular. He got his Dr. Eng. on stair 

safety from the Tokyo University, Japan. 

His most recent accomplishments include 

witing up of Design Guidelines of 

Dwellings for the Japanese Ageing 

Sociefy. He is a member of a number of 

professional organizations including NFPA , IMSS, Environmental Design Research 

Asso cia tio n-- ED RA , International 

Association of People-Environment 

StudiesJAPS, as well as many Japanese 

academic associations such as 

Architectural Institute of Japan-AIJ and 

Man€nvironment Research AssociationMEM. He serves as a board member for 

INS and MEW, and he is currently editorin-chief of the MERA Journal. 

Dr. Akihiko Hokugo is a senior researcher 

of the Fire Safety Division of the Building 

Research Institute, Japanese Minisw of 

Construction. He is currently an expert 

member of fhe Fire Safety Planning 

Committee of the Building Center of Japan. 

He holds a B. Eng. in architecture, a M. 

Eng. in disaster planning and a Ph.D. in 

fire safety science, all from the Kobe 

University, Japan. He is now working on 

occupant evacuation, smoke movement 

and methodologies to evaluate risks in 

highrise buildings. He is a member of 

NFPA and IMSS. Previous to employment 

with BRl, he was with the Fire Information 

Research Center of Japan, where he has 

done fire safety assessments on several 

sites of petrochemical plants and fire 

safefy planning for underground structures.