David Hulton, health and safety manager at HC-One, provides a brief overview of the most basic of fire safety preparations that should be taken in a care home environment and points to sources of further advice, guidance and support
Have you ever wondered why so many accounts of tragic events begin: “It was just another ordinary day”? The answer is that it is always another ordinary day, until a fire breaks out. It starts off small of course, spreading slowly until someone notices it and sets off an alarm, or the smoke or heat build up enough to activate a detector and the alarm sounds. Once the alarm sounds, we think that the problems are over; the fire has been discovered and has presumably been dealt with, but is this the end of the story?
Fires don’t just happen in care homes with a terrible reputation, where staff don’t care and the conditions are dreadful. For example, a recent fire in a care home rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), in which fire spread along the roof space, eventually collapsing and leaving two people dead and over 30 injured, shows that there is rather more than just having a lovely home and caring, knowledgeable staff to preventing, detecting and escaping a fire.
A simple and effective aide-mémoire for fire prevention is the fire triangle; one side is oxygen, one is fuel and the other is heat - if all three are present in sufficient quantities, then a fire will almost certainly result.
Log in or register FREE to read the rest
This story is Premium Content and is only available to registered users. Please log in at the top of the page to view the full text.
If you don't already have an account, please register with us completely free of charge.
