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The purpose of this paper is to formulate and solve a new emergency evacuation planning problem. This problem addresses the needs of both able and disabled persons who are evacuated from multiple pick-up locations and transported using a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles.

The problem is formulated using a mixed integer linear programming model and solved using a heuristic algorithm. The authors analyze the selected heuristic with respect to key parameters and use it to address theoretical and practical case studies.

Evacuating people with disabilities has a significant impact on total evacuation time, due to increased loading/unloading times. Additionally, increasing the number of large capacity vehicles adapted to transport individuals with disabilities benefits total evacuation time.

The mathematical model is of high complexity and it is not possible to obtain exact solutions in reasonable computational times. The efficiency of the heuristic has not been analyzed with respect to optimality.

Solving the problem by a heuristic provides a fast solution, a requirement in emergency evacuation cases, especially when the state of the theater of the emergency changes dynamically. The parametric analysis of the heuristic provides valuable insights in improving an emergency evacuation system.

Efficient population evacuation studied in this work may save lives. This is especially critical for disabled evacuees, the evacuation of whom requires longer operational times.

The authors consider a population that comprises able and disabled individuals, the latter with varying degrees of disability. The authors also consider a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, which perform multiple trips during the evacuation process.

The incidence of disability is increasing globally over the past decades. Despite the increased proportion of disabled individuals, established fire emergency evacuation procedures for disabled in high-rise buildings are lacking attention. Hence, this paper aims to focus on investigating fire emergency evacuation procedures for differently-abled people in high-rise buildings.

To address the gap, the case study strategy under the qualitative research approach was deployed by focussing 10 high-rise buildings. Data collected through semi-structured interviews and document reviews were analysed using content analysis.

The study findings revealed that even though a fire disaster is a major area to be considered, there is a noticeable gap in legal requirements related to differently-abled fire evacuation in Sri Lanka compared to the global context. Moreover, it was identified that importance given to differently enabled fire evacuations procedures varied based on the type of high-rise facilities in which hospitals and hotels provided more importance compared to office buildings, apartments and shopping complexes. Further, the study has highlighted the main gaps in the evacuation procedures and improvements required. Lack of imposed regulations for disabled evacuation was identified as a major barrier hindering the development of effective fire evacuation procedures for disabled, which creates a cascading effect. Further, the consideration given to legal, organisational, individual and technological factors would assist in straightening the identified issues.

This research provides a clear insight into the necessity of focussing at disabled individuals when developing fire emergency procedures. Most importantly, this study had exposed the current gaps in fire emergency evacuation procedures for the disabled community. Understanding these gaps is of high value for industry practitioners to ensure disabled safety during a fire emergency.

Developments in recent years in safety legislation have shifted the burden of responsibility for safety to the owners and managers of facilities. This shift has occurred following a period in which increased accessibility to buildings and facilities for disabled people has been provided, and these to an increasing extent are being used by disabled people. Since most fires are accidental and therefore preventable, prevention has primacy. However, given a fire the facilities manager must be confident that procedures in place are sufficient to ensure safe evacuation of the premises if necessary.

Property market forces rarely dictate attention to the more complex and specialist needs of minority groups, like the disabled, unless such a consideration is specifically included in the brief. Overcoming that selfishness and to integrate disabled people into the built environment of our community, is a struggle which has been receiving increasing attention for the last two decades. On 14th December, 1987, an approved document giving guidance on the provision of facilities for disabled people wishing to use certain buildings accompanied an updated mandatory requirement, which became Part M of Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations. This means that all local authorities, many of whom had dragged their feet in the matter up to then, have some real, if arbitrary, standards which they are expected to enforce on many developers. That probably marks the end of the beginning of a process which started, very tentatively, with the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

Facilities to cater for the needs of people with learning difficulties are provided in a range of accommodation which includes new build and adapted buildings. Issues related to the life safety of building occupants with learning difficulties, particularly where there are sleeping risks, have not been given sufficient prominence. To assist facilities managers in the difficult task of prioritising space and resource allocations, a method for development of assessing the evacuation capabilities of residents with learning difficulties is offered for discussion.

In recent years, the number of high-rise buildings in Malaysia has been increasing. Therefore, it is essential to take evacuation into consideration especially for emergency conditions such as fire, explosion and natural disasters. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the escape time in typical Malaysian high-rise residential buildings.

This work comprises simulation on three buildings around the Selangor area in Malaysia. Quantitative methodology is adopted using Pathfinder software to simulate the evacuation process and time of the three typical Malaysian high-rise residential buildings. Four parameters were studied namely, the occupant load density, walking speed of first and last occupants, average of evacuation time per floor for the three buildings and effect of placement of emergency staircase on travel time.

Findings show that 12 m² which is double the allowable occupants' density in Malaysia increases evacuation time by 67.9% while the placement of the emergency staircase on the left and middle section of a building significantly affects the evacuation time by 21.2%. In conclusion, from the simulation studies, it is recognized that a higher occupant's density affects the evacuation time.

This work could provide information on escape time for future construction of high-rise buildings in Malaysia. Hence, the specification and design of buildings could be reviewed based on the results obtained from this simulation. This information could be beneficial to the building regulators and developers thus enhancing the knowledge of building constructor and possible issues in the design of staircases, corridors and height of buildings.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.