Evacuation Sledge Operator Training
Government guidance is specific about what this training should cover. Most courses do not follow it. We do.
If your workplace has installed evacuation sledges to help people who cannot use the stairs independently during an emergency, the training your operators receive needs to meet a specific standard. It is not enough to simply demonstrate how the equipment works.
Official UK Government guidance states that evacuation equipment training should include disability awareness, disability evacuation etiquette, and moving, lifting and handling techniques. This is not a suggestion. It reflects the genuine breadth of competence an operator needs. An operator who can mechanically operate a sledge, but has not been trained in disability awareness or safe manual handling, is not fully prepared for what an evacuation actually involves.
Our course includes all three. Many courses do not.
This 5-hour Evacuation Sledge Operator course gives you the knowledge and ability to visually check and safely use typical types of evacuation sledge in real-life situations.
What You Will Learn
- The legal framework, including PUWER 1998, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) considerations under the Equality Act 2010
- Disability awareness: understanding the range of conditions and circumstances that may require sledge evacuation, and how to approach this with dignity
- Disability evacuation etiquette, including communication, reassurance, and managing a casualty’s fear or anxiety during an evacuation
- Moving, lifting and handling techniques specific to sledge operation, covering safe technique for the operator and safe positioning for the passenger
- Visual pre-use safety checks: what to look for, and when to remove equipment from service
- Practical operation of typical evacuation sledge types on stairs
Course Details
Duration | 5 hours |
Format | Face to face, hands-on practical |
Group size | Minimum 3 for scheduled or open courses, maximum 12 per instructor |
Certificate | Issued by Chris Garland Training, PDF as standard |
Assessment | Practical observation |
Venue | Knutsford training centre, or at your premises nationwide |
Using your own equipment: if your workplace already has an evacuation sledge, we can train on it directly. Simply let us know when booking. If you do not have one available, we can bring a popular model of evacuation sledge for use during the course.
More than 8 candidates? For groups larger than 8, we recommend a private course at your premises. Contact us to discuss.
Course Type:
- Practical, face to face training.
- Maximum of 12 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 sledge 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 & Times:
- This course runs from 9am until 3pm over one day.
- 5 face-to-face guided learning hours.
- <1 hours break through the day.
- Please arrive in plenty of time to be ready for a 9am start.
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.
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 12 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 12 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.
Joining instructions:
Related Courses
If your premises also use evacuation chairs, see our Evacuation Chair Training course, or for organisations using both, our Evacuation Chair and Sledge Training options.
For organisations wanting to build in-house training capability across six different sledge and ski sheet models, including those compatible with AirFlow mattresses, see our Evacuation Sledge Train the Trainer course.
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.”
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:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great information!”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great course with plenty of practice time.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “Great. Learnt lots.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “I can see why most people use evacuation chairs!”