Personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs)

PEEP's

Workers and other people who are disabled or vulnerable can find it impossible or difficult to quickly evacuate from a building to a place of safety in the event of a fire or other emergency.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) requires employers to prepare a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) for each of these people (whether a worker or a visitor) to protect them in the event of a fire. For those people who need assistance the plan must provide all the necessary information that will enable them and the people assisting them, to quickly get out of a building or to manage their escape to a place of relative safety. It must also give managers and others sufficient information to ensure that the correct level of assistance is always available.

The safety of people occupying premises is always paramount. It is always the responsibility of employers to plan for and manage the evacuation of personnel from a building in the event of an emergency. It is never the responsibility of the Fire and Rescue Service.

A PEEP is a plan for escape in exceptional circumstances, in the event of an emergency. It has nothing to do with normal daily access and egress.  

1. For this purpose a person is disabled or vulnerable if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day-to-day activities. A pregnant worker will become a vulnerable person if pregnancy affects their mobility- particularly as they come towards the end of their term.

See also: Fire Safety; Fire Risk Assessment.