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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 Barriers Compliance Board
Building Officials and Code Administrators Intemational, Inc.
Building Owners and Managers Association international
Council of American Building Officials

Eastem Paralyzed Veterans Association

Intemational 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

Southem Building Code Congress Intemational, Inc.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers


194

Elevators, Fire and Accessibility

WILL BUILDING OCCUPANTS USE ELEVATORS FOR EVACUATION?
FACTORS AFFECTING COMPLIANCE WITH THE EMERGENCY PLAN

by Norman E. Groner and Bernard M. Levin

For two decades, the American public has been
instructed to avoid using elevators during fire
emergencies. Signs in elevator lobbies tell
occupants to use stairs and not elevators. Fires that
have killed people in elevators have been
extensively publicized, leading most people to
understand the danger of using elevators during fire
emergencies.

Assuming that it is technically feasible to build
elevators usable for evacuating building occupants,
the question arises: “Can all the education to avoid
elevators during fire emergencies be overcome?"
There is no reason to install fire-safe elevators if
people won't use them. This paper examines the
factors that will affect people's decisions to use
elevators during fire emergencies. Our evidence
about the role of such factors is based in large part
on interviews that the authors conducted as part of
@ research program at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology supported by the Gen-
eral Services Administration and the Federal
Aviation Administration. Our part of the research
examined the human and organizational factors
involved in using refuge areas and elevators during
fire emergencies. (Levin and Groner, 1992; Levin
and Groner, 1994) We believe that with sufficient
attention to the factors discussed in this paper, the
great majority of people would follow a plan that
suggests the use of elevators to evacuate the
building. Conversely, if attention is not paid to such
factors, then the plan to use elevators could easily
breakdown, with unforeseen and potentially tragic
consequences.

BUILDING OCCUPANTS ARE LIKELY TO
PURSUE STRATEGIES THAT THEY
PERCEIVE AS MOST LIKELY TO OFFER
SAFETY

There is strong evidence that people behave
rationally during emergencies-that they do the best
they can given the information available to them.
(see Prioux and Sime, 1991; Sime, 1985) There is
scant evidence to support the common belief that

people panic, or otherwise behave irrationally during
emergencies (see Sime, 1990). In general, people
will decide to use elevators if they believe that using
them is safer than other available strategies. (Other
psychological factors, such as altruism and
compliance with authority, mediate self-interest-a
consideration that is beyond the scope of this
paper.)

THE CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT
OCCUPANT USE OF ELEVATORS
INHIBITS EMERGENCY ELEVATOR USE.

When people encounter a new situation, they tend
to use a strategy that has worked for them in similar
situations. (Reason, 1990) For this reason, we
expect that the campaign to teach people to avoid
elevators will interfere with future efforts to have
them use elevators to evacuate buildings.

During our interviews with air traffic controllers, we
confirmed the hypothesis that people would view
elevator evacuation with considerable apprehension.
Without exception, every interviewee indicated at
least some hesitation to use elevators to evacuate
the towers. It is important to note, however, that the
strength of their hesitancy varied widely. After
explaining that special design features would make
these elevator much safer than present installations,
all of the controllers were more willing to entertain
the option of using elevators to evacuate the
towers. A few air traffic controllers indicated that
they would gladly use an elevator that had been
designed for emergency evacuations. A few other
controllers indicated that any feasible altemative
strategy would still be preferable to using a
“supposedly” fire-safe elevator, even descending
through stairs filled with smoke, or waiting for a
helicopter rescue. The opinions of the other
controllers fell between these two extremes.

PERSONS UNABLE TO USE STAIRS
WILL BE STRONGLY MOTIVATED TO



Elevators, Fire and Accessibility
USE ELEVATORS

In today’s multi-story buildings, persons who are
unable to use stairs, or who use stairs only with
discomfort or risk of injury, are clearly
disadvantaged during a fire emergency. Automatic
suppression systems and compartmentation provide
a high degree of safety to all building occupants,
regardless of whether they can use stairs or not.
However, having to remain in the building,
dependent on others for rescue, is unsatisfying,
regardless of the level of safety. Persons who
cannot leave the building unassisted will
unavoidably conclude that they are less safe than
other building occupants.

However, it should not be assumed that even
persons unable to safely descend stairs will
necessarily use elevators to evacuate. If mobility-
impaired persons are sufficiently distrustful about
the safety of elevators, they may Still prefer to wait
for rescue or use stairs, perhaps at greatly
increased actual (but not perceived) risk. As an
example, during our study of staging areas, we
interviewed a building occupant with both legs
amputated who explained that he would pull himself
up stairs (his office was located below grade) and
suffer the resulting injuries, rather than risk being
“trapped” in the nearby staging area. In general, just
like anyone else, someone whose disability prevents
a sate stair descent will follow the strategy that he
perceives as most likely to provide safety.

BUILDING OCCUPANTS MUST BE
PROVIDED WITH INFORMATION ABOUT
FIRE-SAFE ELEVATORS BEFORE THEY

WILL TRUST IN THEIR SAFETY

In a situation where there is little basis for judging
whether using stairs is safer than using elevators,
building occupants are more likely to choose the
stairs, because people show a natural tendency to
favor more general problem-solving strategies that
fave worked in the past. However, people will
substitute an alternative strategy (‘use elevators”)
when presented with clear ‘countersigns”
indicating that the more general strategy (dont
use elevators”) is less desirable. (cf. Reason, 1990)
Therefore, building occupants targeted to use
elevators need to be provided with convincing
information that they will be safer using that
strategy.

As we stated in our study of refuge areas, “the first

195

step in developing credibility is to have a system
worthy of trust. However, having well designed, -
carefully constructed and properly maintained
staging areas is not sufficient to engender
confidence." (Levin and Groner, 1992) Building
occupants must be provided with a description of
the special design features that allow elevators to
operate during a fire emergency. Building
occupants need to understand that these features
provide a very high degree of reliability and safety.
During our interviews with building occupants, most
people expressed a considerable increase in their
willingness to use staging areas or elevators
(depending on the study) after the special design
features had been described to them.

CREDIBILITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT

THE ELEVATOR SYSTEM DEPENDS ON

THE CREDIBILITY OF THE SOURCE OF
THE INFORMATION

Social psychological studies have demonstrated
that message-induced changes in attitudes can
derive as much from the credibility of the source of
a communication as from the content of the
message. (Zimbardo and Ebbesen, 1970)

Poor relations with building management will inhibit
emergency elevator use because the credibility of
the source will be questioned. If building occupants
have an unfavorable opinion about building
management, they will be more skeptical about the
integrity of the elevator evacuation system. In such
instances, information would be more convincing
when provided by outside engineers.

Building occupants understand that an elevator
evacuation system needs to be properly maintained
and operated. For this reason, it is especially
important for building management to maintain an
effective emergency team, with prompt replacement
of floor wardens and others. Similarly, frequent
elevator breakdowns can erode confidence that an
emergency elevator system would provide reliable
safety. In our study of aviation control towers, we
found that those air traffic controllers who
commented that the elevator in their tower was
often out-of-service, for either unforeseen equipment
problems or scheduled maintenance, were much
more skeptical that an emergency evacuation
elevator system would be properly maintained to
provide adequate safety. (Aviation control towers
have only one elevator, so any elevator down-time
is conspicuous and very inconvenient to the