Ageing populations are generating new challenges for the safe design of buildings and infrastructure systems in communities around the world. Elderly building occupants are more likely to have mobility impairments, and in turn, require longer times and increased assistance to evacuate buildings compared with able-bodied adults. To date, only a few studies have been carried out to assess the evacuation performance of elderly evacuees in retirement homes. Therefore, it is necessary to collect critical evacuation data, such as pre-evacuation times and evacuation speeds, for these occupancy types. This work investigates the evacuation behaviour of elderly evacuees and caretaking staff using video recordings of evacuation in retirement facilities. The paper presents three case studies. The first case study includes unannounced drills, which took place in communal areas of retirement homes during a live music exhibition and in a kitchen. The second case study is a series of unannounced drills, which took place in independent living apartment buildings of a retirement facility. The last case study is of a single announced evacuation drill, which took place in a communal area of a retirement building. Qualitative results indicate that the occupants’ behaviours depended on their role (i.e. resident or staff) and on the type of monitored area (i.e. apartment building or communal area). Pre-evacuation times measured in this study are in accordance with values stated in the literature, and walking speeds fall in the range of values reported in past studies of these types of building. Finally, results revealed that there is a significant gap between the data provided in this work and the SFPE design curves used for buildings, since the SFPE design curves do not explicitly account for adults with mobility impairments.

中文翻译：

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调查退休设施中的疏散行为：来自新西兰的案例研究

人口老龄化给世界各地社区的建筑和基础设施系统的安全设计带来了新的挑战。与身体健全的成年人相比，年长的建筑物居住者更有可能有行动障碍，反过来需要更长的时间和更多的援助来疏散建筑物。迄今为止，只有少数研究评估了养老院中老年撤离人员的撤离性能。因此，有必要收集这些居住类型的关键疏散数据，例如预疏散时间和疏散速度。这项工作使用在退休设施中疏散的录像来调查老年疏散人员和看护人员的疏散行为。本文介绍了三个案例研究。第一个案例研究包括突击演习，在现场音乐展览和厨房中，在养老院的公共区域举行。第二个案例研究是一系列突击演习，发生在退休设施的独立生活公寓楼。最后一个案例研究是在退休大楼的公共区域进行的一次宣布的疏散演习。定性结果表明，居住者的行为取决于他们的角色（即居民或工作人员）和受监控区域的类型（即公寓楼或公共区域）。本研究中测量的预疏散时间与文献中所述的值一致，步行速度落在这些类型建筑物过去研究报告的值范围内。最后，