Fire safety in any premises is important, however fire safety procedures in a care home where vulnerable occupants are involved is vital.
Occupants of a care home are likely to have restricted mobility and require extra time to safely exit the building. The ‘responsible Person’ in each care home needs to have a solid and tested strategy for procedures and precautions in the event of a fire. Failure to have these in place could lead to prosecution in the event of a fire.
Rather than waiting for the Fire Service to issue a formal notice to require fire safety concerns to be addresses, care home managers should ensure that they have taken a suitable course to allow them to understand the required rules around procedures and potential strategies and the fire risk assessment.
Common issues which cause failure of a fire risk assessment are:
- Fire doors left open
- Obstructions blocking walkways and exits
- Kitchens and kitchen equipment where flammable liquids such as oil should not be left exposed
- Medical equipment such as Oxygen machines which should be stored and sited away from potential issues such as heat sources.
Check list for fire safety:
- Carry out a fire risk assessment and ensure that this is kept up to date
- Floor plan or zone chart which is easily accessible by the fire brigade
- Evacuation plan
- Fire emergency plan – for example how to raise a fire alarm and ensuring staff know the chosen escape routes to reach the assembly points
- Fire drills
- Training for staff in Fire Safety Training
- L1 Fire detection system
The above strategies are common for most buildings with people. However care homes require and extra level of planning and preparedness. Each resident will need their own PEEP (or personal evacuation plan) to ensure their mobility issues if they have them are catered for as part of their personal plan. This should encompass issues such as blindness or hard of hearing such as issues around hearing and responding to an alarm.
These are just some of the Fire safety procedures in a care home. Undertaking appropriate fire safety training for staff should be frequently carried out.
