Effective fire strategies for healthcare premises
IN RESPONSE to the article Alternative medicine by Steven Cooper (see FP&FEJ, January 2007, p.29), I wish to make the following observations.
While the article contained many valid points relating to healthcare fire safety and the Firecode guidance, it was written prior to the publication of HTM 05-02: Guidance in support of functional provisions for healthcare premises, which is intended for a wide range of healthcare buildings and not just new hospital developments.
It should also be noted that Firecode is a generic suite of documents and design guidance that should not be read in isolation. HTM 05-01: Managing healthcare fire safety builds upon the respective policy statements for England and Wales, and mandates a management structure for healthcare fire safety (excluding NHS Foundations Trusts). It also recommends that fire strategies be developed for both new and existing buildings to ensure high standards of fire safety are maintained in NHS premises.
I wish to take issue with the section of the article titled ‘Informing the design’, which has a paragraph stating:
‘A hospital should be designed with patients and clinicians in mind; the best people to do this are those who use the building. However, once the functionality of the building is right, the fire strategy can be developed to complement the design. The fire strategy should not dictate the design of the hospital, although small changes to the clinical design to accommodate the fire strategy cannot be avoided altogether.’
I fully agree with the first sentence of this paragraph and would add that this can be accomplished in part by developing a fire strategy at the concept stage of the design. This should include the future management of fire safety and the development of escape strategies into the design. While I agree that the fire strategy should not influence the provision of amenities such as an atrium, the provision of bed evacuation lifts, hospital streets, suppression systems and height limitation will have a funda-mental impact upon the design and is as important as the location of high-dependent patients to critical services in terms of the functionality of the hospital.
Using the example of escape stairways designed for mattress evacuation, it is evident that their inclusion into the design imposes constraints in terms of their size and location, and also presents difficulties for staff-assisted evacuation.
However, in my opinion, it is for management to assess all of the relevant subsidiary issues, in addition to means of escape. This includes:
It is therefore absolutely essential that Trusts prepare a design brief and instruct the design team on their proposed fire strategy for managing fire safety, for inclusion into the design. From past experience, I am aware that design teams have not been sufficiently briefed on the fire strategy and, as a consequence, Trusts have had to live with the shortcomings of the design.
Paul Harrison I.Eng, MIFireE, MRICS, Welsh Health Estates
Any of the statements or comments made above should be regarded as personal and not necessarily those of Welsh Health Estates or any constituent or connected body.
Ignorance of new fire law putting small firms at risk
AS WE know, the biggest change to fire legislation in England and Wales for 30 years took place on 1 October 2006 with the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
As fire safety trainers, we have a major concern that substantial numbers of small businesses, we are told, are ultimately at risk of heavy fines or even prison, yet they are not even aware that the law has changed.
Since the present Government came to power, it has introduced over 360 separate pieces of legislation. It really should
be experienced by now in informing people about changes to the law, particularly when a major piece of legislation is enacted which has the potential to have such a significant impact on the business community.
Unfortunately, we believe that the Government has done too little, too late, to publicise the Fire Safety Order; small businesses, such as care homes and hotels, seem to have been bypassed and are at serious risk of breaching the law.
The Government claims to have spent £4.2m on a publicity campaign in the national, local and trade press. There seems little evidence that it went in the right direction. But the Fire Safety Order came into force on the same day as the age discrimination legislation, which got significantly more publicity.
Our concern is that ignorance of the change in the law is no defence, and with local fire services beginning to carry out spot-check inspections, many local businesses will be caught out.
My evidence for this criticism is that in response to the change in the law, we joined forces with Isle of Wight based Utility Films to develop an innovative fire safety toolkit on CD-Rom and DVD. Aimed at hotels and guesthouses, residential care homes, and schools and colleges, the package is selling well. I expected it to inform people, but we are having to educate before we can sell. This suggests that small businesses have not had enough information from the centre to enable them to comply with the law, and that training companies are having to fill the gap.
In our view, this is a serious failing on the part of the Government: one which could affect not only business owners who are at risk of penalty but – more importantly – their clients, residents, guests, pupils and so on, who could well be put at risk of injury or even death.
Phil Stone, PS Associates
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