Evacuation Sledge Training
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the ‘responsible person’ (e.g. the building owner or employer) has to ensure that everyone (whether an employee or visitor) can be evacuated safely from the building during an emergency. Evacuation sledges are one way the ‘responsible person’ can comply with this legal requirement.
Note:
The Medical Devices Directive (93/42/EEC) classify evacuation chairs, sledges, etc as a Class 1 Medical Device, alongside wheelchairs, hospital beds, etc. As such they fall under the requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). This means there is a legal obligation on equipment providers to ensure adequate staff training, as well as servicing of the equipment, to ensure that the equipment can be operated safely during emergency situations.
Course syllabus includes:
- What is an evacuation sledge?
- When would you use one?
- Who would use one?
- Legislation relating to evacuation sledges
- Disability awareness & etiquette
- Planning an evacuation
- Evacuation strategies
- PEEPS & GEEPS
- Risks to evacuation sledge operators
- The spine
- Employers considerations
- Moving, lifting & handling techniques
- Avoiding injuries to the sledge operators
- Team lifting
- Evacuation sledge use (practical)
- Assisting people into the evacuation sledge
- Written test
Course Type:
- Practical, face to face training.
- Maximum of 8 candidates per course to ensure your safety in the stairwell.
Certificate:
- Certificates will be issued at the discretion of the trainer depending on the level of competence and ability demonstrated during the course. (e.g. those who physically cannot control the decent of a loaded evacuation chair safely may be certified as an assistant rather than an operator).
- Following successful completion of the course and assessments, you will receive the following course certificate issued by Chris Garland Training:
- Evacuation Sledge Operator.
Course duration:
- Typically between 4 – 4.5 hours.
Time:
- Please note the exact times for your course booking.
Test:
- Multiple-Choice Question paper:
- You need to score 70% to achieve a pass.
- Practical assessment:
- You need to score 100% to achieve a pass.
Pre-requisites:
Personnel:
- No prior experience is required for this course.
- A reasonable level of physical fitness & strength is required to use the sledges safely.
- Those with back or shoulder problems, mobility issues or of a nervous disposition will find this course challenging & we don’t recommend they undertake the course.
- Please ensure that you wear flat shoes (not high-heels, etc) on the day of the course. See our Joining Instructions for more information.
Equipment:
- We highly recommend that during courses run at your venue, we use your evacuation equipment where possible. This provides staff with hands-on knowledge of (and confidence in) the available equipment.
- For insurance purposes, we will need a copy of the current maintenance certificate for any of your evacuation sledges that you’d like to use during your course. Maintenance certificates must be with us no later than one (1) week prior to the date of your course. Unless less than 12 months old, if your evacuation sledges haven’t been serviced in the last 11 months, we won’t be able use them during the course.
- If you don’t have a sledge available for use, we can bring a popular model of evacuation sledge for use during the course. If you wish to use our evacuation sledge, please ensure that you advise us when arranging your course booking.
Candidates:
- All scheduled/open courses have a minimum and maximum number of candidates that we can take on a course.
- Minimum: We need a minimum of 3 candidates booked on an open/scheduled course for the course to run. Click here for more details.
- Maximum: To ensure your safety at the top of the stairs, we can only take a maximum of 8 candidates per course.
- Should you have more than 8 candidates for the course, please contact us to discuss holding a private course.
Geographical coverage:
- This qualification is available to candidates across the UK. We can deliver it outside the UK but the protocols that we teach to meet current UK guidelines.
Venue:
- Scheduled/Open Courses:
- These run at our training centre in Knutsford, Cheshire.
- Private Courses:
- Why not arrange to have a private courses run at your workplace? Simply fill in our quote request form and we will get back to you with a personalised quotation.
- We can run this course for you at your premises anywhere in the country with a maximum of 8 people per course. Naturally you’ll also need to have a suitable staircase at your premises that we can use during the course.
- While we will bring our own training sledges, we do request that you make one of your evacuation sledges available on your course. This is to ensure that your colleagues are familiar with how they operate.
ChrisGarland –
Recent reviews collected directly after the course:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great information!”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great course with plenty of practice time.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great. Learnt lots.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “I can see why most people use evacuation chairs!”
ChrisGarland –
Recent reviews collected directly after the course:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great knowledge of the trainer, really opening our eyes about planning various evacuation routes.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “A “must have” training course for all staff!”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Trainers knowledge amazing. Excellent delivery.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Amazing knowledge from the trainer. More staff should have the training.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Good information. The training was informative and instructive, both classwork and practical.”
ChrisGarland –
Recent reviews collected directly after the course:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Very useful, particularly the practice/use of the sledge. This will make us more confident in a real life emergency. Very informative, relevant & well paced. My biggest take-away was how to handle the sledge and realistic considerations around fire safety.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Very good course. Interesting. Very knowledgable. Good practical session. Great to have the training in our workplace. My biggest take-away was how to use the sled & additional needs which we have to put in place re GEEP.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Excellent; very informative. My biggest take-away was to be potentially thinking about our visitors and what we would do if in emergency & how to use the evacuation sledge.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Good pace, well presented, practical aspect was good. My biggest take-away was being able to use an evacuation sledge.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great theory & practical. Very engaging. I felt able to ask questions & received great responses. Covered lots and how to keep learning. We’ll now look at the centre in a new way. My biggest take-away was how important it is, from simple posters to getting someone down the stairs to understanding the future regulations.”