Fire safety issues in a care home are different than the issues in an office block or a block of flats. Residents may have limited mobility or cognitive impairments. Some may require total assistance in order to evacuate. The margin of error, therefore, is almost zero. The scrutiny of care settings has only worsened since Grenfell. Owners of care and nursing homes who see fire compliance as a box-ticking exercise risk not only lives but also damage to their CQC rating. The following is a checklist to ensure the safety of your residents and your building.
1. Your Fire Risk Assessment is not current and isn’t specific
To be compliant, fire risk assessments must be specific to care settings. This means assessments need to be tailored to the mobility and cognitive challenges of residents, staffing at night and during the day, and the specific layout of each wing and floor. Assessments should occur after every building change, refurbishing, and after every major shift in dependent residents’ levels.
2. Fire doors and compartmentation
Fire doors are only effective if they are properly closed, sealed, and not wedged open by well-intentioned staff trying to make corridors less clinical. Regular checks should confirm that all intumescent strips are intact, hinges aren’t sagging, and self-closers are functioning. Small gaps around pipework can undermine the entire system and should be inspected regularly.
3. Realistic evacuation plans
Every resident needs to have a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP). This needs to be realistic given the actual number of staff on the night shift, and not an aspirational version of how many staff you would like to have on the shift.
Rather than waiting until drills are over to evaluate how well plans were put into practice, moveable equipment (e.g., evacuation chairs and wheelchairs) should be incorporated into drills.
4. Be Audit Ready
When an inspector comes, he or she will provide evidence, not assurances. Make sure the following documents are signed, dated, and easily accessible:
- Fire risk assessments and any subsequent actions
- Fire door inspection reports
- Logs of alarm and detector tests
- Records of evacuation drills and time achieved
- Certificates of staff fire safety training
5. Kitchen and Plant Room Risks
In care settings, kitchens, laundries, and boiler or plant rooms pose significant fire risks. These are often given a lower priority than resident areas. The extraction system requires cleaning and testing, and any faults identified during an inspection should be remedied without delay rather than just noted.
6. Staff Training
Fire safety training should not be seen as a yearly formality. For agency and new staff, regular refresher training is particularly important as, during an actual emergency, there will be no time for people to think things through.
Getting fire safety compliance correct is a way of protecting the residents and the staff, as well as the long-term value of your premises. If you would like an external perspective on how your building’s fire safety measures are, our team is willing to discuss what a proper review would entail.