Removing the bumps along the way
At a local Early Childhood Learning Centre, our client engaged us to make improvements to an existing pathway and kerbing arrangement that was creating difficulties around an emergency evacuation route.
The area includes an emergency exit gate used by educators to move cots from the nursery through to the designated muster point. However, the existing concrete pathway and change in levels made it difficult to move the cots smoothly onto the car park surface.
In an emergency — or even during an evacuation drill — this created an unnecessary bottleneck and made manoeuvring the cots more difficult than it needed to be, adding the potential hazard of a cot falling over.
A Practical Solution
To improve access, we modified the existing area to create a smoother transition from the pathway onto the car park.
The works included:
- Installation of a new ramp connecting into the gradient of the existing ramp next to the area.
- New kerbing to clearly separate the garden bed from the access route.
- Installation of new bitumen where the new ramp meets the flat car park surface.
- Removal of the uneven transition that was making cot movement difficult.
- Improving the area to minimise potential trip and fall hazards.
Making Evacuation Easier
The aim was simple: remove the bottleneck and trip hazard, and make the evacuation route easier to use.
With the new ramp and smooth transition onto the car park, educators can now move the nursery cots through the emergency gate and towards the muster point with considerably less difficulty.
It is a great example of how relatively targeted building and maintenance works can make a practical difference to the functionality and safety of a busy commercial environment.
At Allcraft Projects, we undertake building maintenance, modifications and upgrade works for commercial facilities across Perth and Western Australia — finding practical solutions that work within the existing environment.
