BEHAVIOURAL PERFORMANCE OF PARTIALLY SIGHTED PEOPLE DURING CIRCULATION AND MOVEMENT IN BUILDING ENVIRONMENTS

Thank you for your interest in participating in these trials. We have now recruited sufficient people and so we are closing the registration process. Please keep an eye on the FSEG (http://fseg.gre.ac.uk) web site as we often run egress trials and require volunteers.

VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED FOR BEHAVIOUR EXPERIMENTS

The Fire Safety Engineering Group of the University of Greenwich will be undertaking a series of experimental trials in August 2012 to investigate the manner in which partially sighted people interact with the built environment. This research will contribute to improving the design of buildings for normal circulation and emergency movement. We are looking for partially sighted volunteers to contribute to this important and worthwhile research.

Volunteers will be required to enter a building via a staircase, climb two flights of stairs unaided and navigate around a building. Volunteers will not be exposed to any conditions that would not be expected during normal movement within an office environment. The trials will take place in one of the historic buildings on the Maritime Campus of the university located in Greenwich.

Each volunteer will be paid £20 for travel and £20 Sainsbury's/Tesco voucher on completion of participation in the trial. If you are interested please read on.

 

PURPOSE OF THE TRIALS

The purpose of this study is to better understand the nature of human interaction with building configuration and layout. The project will collect human performance data relating to the behavioural responses of partially sighted people during circulation and movement within building environments. The study consists of a number of trials involving volunteers simply moving through an unfamiliar building space. The actions of the participants will be recorded on video enabling later detailed analysis of their actions and performance. The data collected will extend our understanding of how partially sighted people interact with building spaces and ultimately to the design of more people-friendly and safer building environments. The data collected will also contribute to improving computer simulation tools used to simulate both pedestrian movement and evacuation in buildings.

The nature of the experiments cannot be fully revealed at this point in time as knowledge of the precise purpose of the experiments will bias the results. However, it can be stated that participants will not be expected to do anything that they would not normally do in moving around a typical building environment.

THE TRIALS

The trials will take place in one of the historic buildings on the Maritime Campus of the University of Greenwich located in Greenwich. We are seeking volunteers

•  who are between the age of 18 and 70 years of age,

•  who are partially sighted (i.e. a person who experiences some degree of sight loss which cannot be corrected using glasses or contact lenses),

•  who are able to climb two flights of stairs unaided and find their way around a building alone and unassisted.

We welcome volunteers from any gender, social or cultural grouping. Unfortunately, due to the nature of these trials, people under the age of 18 or who have normal vision or who have severe mobility impairments/disabilities cannot participate.

During the trials, individual participants will be asked to navigate their way around a selected building interior until they reach a defined end point or a member of staff indicates the trial has ended. Participants will be equipped with head gear fitted with a video recording device that will effectively record what they see. At the end of the trials, participants will be requested to complete a questionnaire and participate in a one-to-one interview.

The actual process of participating in the trial and completing the interview and questionnaire should take approximately 1 hour. However, participants may be required to wait prior to the start of the trial or prior to completing the interview and questionnaire. Therefore participants should expect to be available 2 to 4 hours.

RIGHT TO WITHDRAW, PAYMENT AND CONFIDENTIALITY

Participant agreement to take part in the trials does not affect their right to withdraw from the trial at any stage and at any time. However, the payment (£20 plus £20 voucher each) will be made on the day of the trial and ONLY on completion of participation in the trial and on completion of both the interview and questionnaire.

The data collected in the trials will be used for research proposals only and will not be used to identify individuals. Arrangement will be made to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

WHEN WILL THE TRIALS TAKE PLACE

The trials will be run over the three days shown below:

23 August 2012 (Thursday): 10:00am ~ 5:00pm

24 August 2012 (Friday): 10:00am ~ 5:00pm

25 August 2012 (Saturday): 10:00am ~ 5:00pm

 

REGISTRATION AND MORE INFORMATION

Thanks for your interest in participating in these trials. We have now recruited sufficient people and so we are closing the registration process. Please keep an eye on the FSEG (http://fseg.gre.ac.uk) web site as we often run egress trials and require volunteers.

The person responsible for organising and running these trials is the Director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group. His contact details are:

Prof Ed Galea

Phone: 0208 331 8730

Email: e.r.galea@gre.ac.uk

 

HOW TO GET HERE

On the day of the trials, a member of staff will meet you at the main entrance of the Queen Mary Court on the Maritime Campus of the University of Greenwich (see below). Please arrive 10 minutes before the set time, as you will be taken promptly, as a group, to the experiment location. The address of campus is Park Row, Greenwich, SE10 9LS.

A number of buses can be used to travel to this campus including bus numbers 129, 286, 386, 177, 180 and 188, depending on your initial location. The nearest underground station is Cutty Sark (DLR); the nearest over-ground stations are Greenwich and Maze Hill. . You can find more information concerning the location and parking in detail at the web link:

http://fseg.gre.ac.uk/fire/newlocation.html

 

Your time and effort will contribute to the success of this trial. We appreciate your help and look forward to meeting you on the day.

Fire Safety Engineering Group

University of Greenwich

Greenwich Maritime Campus

Greenwich SE10 9LS