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TACTILE DOOR PLATE
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here for our doorplate order form
This enhances the
wall system
and is particularly useful to visually impaired people, and those
so rendered by local conditions such as darkness or smoke. It
is ideal for situations where there is a need to communicate a
message to the user before they pass through a door, such as in
an emergency evacuation of a building.
Fitting the door plate to all
fire exit doors along the fire escape route to identify that door
as a fire exit provides an important benefit in respect of the
imminent enforcement of Part III of the Disability Discrimination
Act 1995, which takes effect in 2004.
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Under this Act there is a requirement
to adjust policies, practices and procedures so as not to discriminate
against disabled people. It further reinforces the responsibility of Building
Managers to ensure that their evacuation procedures take account of the
needs of disabled people.
Made of a wipe-clean, tough polycarbonate,
this door plate has two tactile patterns which convey different information.
The upper pattern of raised domes identifies
the door as one that should be used to leave a room or building in the
event of an emergency.
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The lower tactile pattern, the
wedge shape, informs the user in which direction to proceed along
after passing through the door, instead of relying on vision to
see the fire exit signage.
The door plate is also illuminated
in darkness with a photoluminescent backlight. This is not obvious
in daylight but can be easily seen in the dark and help to identify
the exit door in addition to the tactile pattern.
This product will assist many
visually impaired people, not only in emergency situations, but
also for everyday navigation.
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The doorplate can be personalised with
your corporate logo and is available with or without the directional tactile
pattern.
Application
The concept is a simple one. The plate
is fixed to a door that forms part of the evacuation route. Using the
plan below, in an emergency the occupants of room C14 would leave their
room through door 14 and turn left to head towards the nearest fire exit
doors 21.
The first decision the people must make
is to determine which door leads into the corridor.
In this example, there are doors which
will hinder their progress – these are door 14a to the bathroom
and door 14b which is a wardrobe door. A tactile doorplate fixed to the
room side surface of the door will enable the occupant, by touch, to identify
that door as the correct door through which to leave the room.
The occupant will also be able to determine
from the wedge shape on the lower half of the doorplate that the way to
proceed, once in the corridor, will be to the left.
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Since the fire exit doors 21 are
the only emergency exit doors along the corridor, it follows that
it is only these doors which will have the tactile doorplates fitted
on the corridor side. The evacuee will therefore be able to establish
that doors 8,17,16,15,14,13,19 and 20 along the corridor are not
emergency exit doors.
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Installation
The doorplates are supplied complete
with 2 drill holes and screws for easy application. They may also be supplied
without the holes where a bonding agent is to be used instead of screws.
Size 220 x 85 mm.
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