The research project "Ascending evacuation in long stairways: Physical exertion, walking speed and behaviour" has now been completed. This project investigated the effects of fatigue on walking speeds, physiological performance and behaviours in case of long ascending evacuation. The partners of the research projects included researchers from Lund University (Department of Fire Safety Engineering and Department of Design Sciences) and two Swedish companies, namely Briab – Brand & Riskingenjörerna AB, and DeBrand Sverige AB. The project included a literature review on ascending evacuation on long stairs and escalators, two set of experiments on human performance during ascending evacuation in long stairs, one experiment on a long stopped escalator and one laboratory experiment on a stair machine. Results include walking speeds, physiological measures of physical exertion (oxygen consumption, heart rates and electromyography data), perceived exertion and behavioural observations.

The report on the literature review can be found here.

The final report of the project can be found here.