Stairs or Lifts? - A Study of Human Factors Associated With Lift/Elevator Usage during Evacuations Using an Online Survey

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of human factors data collected via an online survey related to the use of lifts (elevators) and stairs during both circulation and evacuation scenarios. Survey participants were presented with a series of hypothetical situations and asked how they would behave. The survey was split into two broad sections, the first dealing with normal circulation usage of lifts/stairs and the second dealing with evacuation usage of lifts/stairs. Detailed demographic information about each participant was also collected. In total some 468 people from 23 countries completed the survey. An overview of the survey and initial results are presented in this paper.

Evacuation experiments in a virtual reality high‐rise building: exit choice and waiting time for evacuation elevators

“…Comparing results from this study with previous studies, it is possible to see that the percentage of participants choosing the elevator is higher than suggested in previous studies [8,9,11]. In this study, about two-thirds chose the elevator in the no flashing light scenario compared with 15% [10] and 24% [9] calculated for the 16th floor using the correlations presented in two previous studies. It is important to point out that, in the present study, the voice message tells the participants that it is possible to use the elevators, which possibly influences the participants to choose the elevator to a greater extent.…”

Investigating evacuation lift dispatch strategies using computer modelling

“…Under these conditions, waiting occupants may be prepared to wait for a certain period of time before deciding to use the stairs. Indeed recent survey studies suggest that irrespective of the floor, most individuals would not be prepared to wait longer than 10 min for a lift during an evacuation [16,17]. Compared to the simulated scenarios, only Scenarios 6-9 and 11 had average LWTs lower than 10 min.…”

“…In real emergency situations, human behaviour issues may result in lower efficiencies being achieved. To address these simplifications, the authors have surveyed 468 people in 23 countries to determine likely occupant-lift behaviours in emergency and circulation situations [16]. The information derived from the survey will be used to refine the agent-lift interaction submodel.…”

“…The human factor issues can be explored through studying past incidents where lifts were used, e.g. the WTC, through experimentation (evacuation trials) and through surveys/questionnaires techniques [16,17]. The operational questions may be addressed using computer evacuation simulation.…”

Problems of the formation of the regulatory framework for high-rise construction in terms of en-suring safe evacuation in case of fire and man-made accidents

“… 2017 ã. äàííàÿ ïðîáëåìà îáñóaeäà-ëàñü íà ìíîãèõ íàó÷íî-ïðàêòè÷åñêèõ êîíôåðåíöè-ÿõ è ôîðóìàõ, ïîñâÿùåííûõ îáåñïå÷åíèþ ïîaeàð-íîé áåçîïàñíîñòè âûñîòíûõ çäàíèé. Çàðóáåaeíûå èññëåäîâàíèÿ ïîêàçûâàþò, ÷òî èñ-ïîëüçîâàíèå âíóòðåííåãî âåðòèêàëüíîãî òðàíñïîðòà äëÿ ýâàêóàöèè ëþäåé ïðè ïîaeàðå â âûñîòíûõ çäàíè-ÿõ íå òîëüêî öåëåñîîáðàçíî, íî è íåîáõîäèìî [22][23][24][25][26]. Âûõîä ëþäåé â ïîýòàaeíûå áåçîïàñíûå çîíû íå ÿâ-ëÿåòñÿ çàâåðøàþùèì ýòàïîì ïðîöåññà ýâàêóàöèè èç-çà âåðîÿòíîñòè äàëüíåéøåãî ðàçâèòèÿ ïîaeàðà, ñîïóòñòâóþùèõ åìó òåõíîãåííûõ àâàðèé è âîçìîae-íîãî îáðóøåíèÿ çäàíèÿ.…”