Powerless personal elevator proposed for tall-building fire escapes

A Korean company has begun marketing a personal elevator-style fire escape system that carries people one or two at a time in stages down the exterior of a building and requires no electricity.

"Neri-Go", by Asia Fire Protection, is intended for tall buildings and takes up no space inside.

In the event of fire, residents step onto a 60-cm-sq platform and release a brake to be lowered to the next level, where they step onto another.

The controlled descent is driven by the user’s weight, and when the user steps off it rises automatically for the next evacuee.

According to the BuyKorea website, it can accommodate those carrying children as well as the disabled.

Emergency evacuation from tall buildings has become an urgent question around the world following the Grenfell Tower fire in the UK in June, in which 71 people lost their lives after becoming trapped in a building that had only one staircase.

In that case, however, flames shot up the exterior of the building, which would have made Neri-Go unusable on the affected elevations.

Image: The Neri-Go system in actions (Asia Fire Protection)

Further Reading:

• 4,000 UK towers under review as catastrophic blaze sparks fire-safety crisis
• Manslaughter charges mulled as UK tower fire-safety crisis cascades
• 60 UK towers fail safety tests in "terrible national disaster"