What to do in the event of a hospital fire

Fire awareness training and risk assessments are an essential part of any business. Having these in place ensures that your employees know what the hazards and fire risks are within your workplace. Training teaches staff ways to reduce these risks, what to do in the event of a fire, and how to identify those that are high risk in a fire situation.

In a hospital, there are always many people who are extremely vulnerable if a fire breaks out. There are often many people there who are unable to move by themselves or people for whom smoke inhalation poses more of a health risk.

A hospital is also potentially a relatively hazardous environment. They are filled with large amounts of electrical equipment, mobile equipment and most significantly many sources of oxygen, other compressed gases and chemicals. This creates a higher fire risk than usual as well as a dangerous environment for evacuation and fire suppression.

So how do hospitals handle fire situations?

One of the most important elements of dealing with a hospital fire is communication. Staff must be fully and regularly trained on how to handle a fire situation so that they are well prepared should one break out. They attend multiple training days annually and prepare for numerous scenarios. Staff are always also aware of exactly where patients are and what their condition is. The nature of the fire alarm is also clearly communicated to all staff either before or during the alarm – whether it be a test, drill or genuine fire. This allows hospital staff to react at the appropriate level. For example, they wouldn’t evacuate an unstable patient for a simple drill. However, it’s important that drills are carried out regularly so that staff have practised their evacuation procedure thoroughly.

Alarms are ‘coded’ to indicate the area of the fire. Areas close to the fire have a different alarm sound than areas that are further away. As an example, the zone that contains the fire will usually have a continuously sounding alarm, letting staff know that they should act immediately and efficiently. Nearby zones will sound an intermittent alarm, indicating that staff should be alert and prepare for an impending evacuation.

This is where compartmentation comes in. Hospitals and most other large buildings are divided into compartments that can withstand a fire for a particular amount of time. This fire barrier gives occupants a chance to be evacuated and provides time for the emergency services to arrive and extinguish the fire.

Due to compartmentation or ‘zoning’, a hospital can have a horizontal phased evacuation. This means that those who can be evacuated, from the zone that contains the fire, or those closest, without assistance will be evacuated immediately. In a zone that contains a fire, patients who are difficult to move can be relocated to an adjacent compartment. This means patients only need to be moved a short distance if necessary, and this drastically reduces the dangers of being away from life support machinery during an emergency.

When the emergency services arrive, they will assess the situation and establish the scale of the evacuation that is needed, if indeed an evacuation is needed at all. Should fragile patients need to be evacuated due to the scale of the fire, this can be facilitated by emergency fire services.

If you are in hospital as a patient or visitor and a fire breaks out, the best thing that you can do is to stay calm and listen intently to the instructions of the hospital staff and the fire services when they arrive. Trust that these people are well prepared for this event, that they know exactly what to do and that there is a multitude of measures already in place to keep you safe.

Hospitals are well prepared in the event of a fire, how prepared is your business?

Call us at Swift Fire today to discuss your fire safety needs.

How to Test the Fire Alarms in your Workplace

A lot of businesses are not testing their fire alarms as frequently or thoroughly as they should be. This is usually not a deliberate attempt to be negligent or cut corners, but because most people mistakenly believe that fires in the workplace are quite a rare occurrence.

When in fact the Fire and Rescue services in England attended 15,815 ‘primary fires’ in non-dwelling buildings in 2016/17 – that’s more than 300 work place fires a week! These incidents resulted in 17 fatalities and 892 non-fatal casualties.

To prevent your business premises from becoming part of these terribly sad statistics, it’s crucial that you maintain your fire alarms properly and test them regularly. Let us take you through what the fire testing regulations are and how frequently you should be carrying out tests.

Is a Fire Alarm a Legal Requirement for a UK Business?

There are different legal requirements for every country within the UK. Each country’s regulations offer a different level of protection, but the short answer is . . . yes. A fire alarm IS a legal requirement in every UK country.

For England and Wales, check the regulations under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

For Scotland, check the regulations under Part 3 of The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005

For Northern Ireland, check the regulations under The Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

If you are in control of a building, even as a business tenant, you are classified as a responsible person and you must ensure that you are adhering to the regulation in fire safety for your country. This will always mean that you must make sure there is a suitable system for detecting fires and warning the people in the building of them. You must also make sure that this system is tested regularly and in the correct way. Each fire alarm system will have a different testing procedure, so you will need to refer to the guidelines sent to you by the manufacturer of speak with the company that installed it for you. Once you get into regular testing, the procedure will become second nature to you.

How often should I test my fire alarm?

In England, it is a legal requirement that your fire detection system is fully inspected and serviced every 6 months. Fire alarm tests to ensure the system is working should be carried out weekly.

How to test a Fire Alarm

As previously mentioned, fire alarm systems will differ depending on the make, model and the type of building they protect. But in general, the procedure is usually carried out as follows:

  • Inform all people in the building that a fire alarm test will be carried out imminently
  • Check that the alarm control panel has a valid connection to the ARC (alarm receiving centre) and put it into ‘test’ mode
  • Make sure you have the manual call point key with you, as you’ll need it to reset the system following the test
  • Activate a manual call point, wait for the alarm sounders and use the key to reset it.
  • Go back to the alarm control panel, check that the manual call point location is correct and then silence the alarm sounders
  • Record the results of your fire alarm test in your fire logbook
  • Contact the ARC and confirm that they received your fire signal
  • Reset the alarm control panel and take it out of test mode

Swift Fire & Safety is one of the UK’s most responsive fire protection and security companies. We will ensure that your premises have a fully-functional alarm system that meets your specific needs and legal obligations.

Contact us today and let us help you keep your business and employees safe.

How Often Should You Have Your Commercial Fire Alarm System Serviced?

All business owners are required to protect their commercial properties and their staff when it comes to fire safety. But getting it right can be a really confusing process. There are so many protocols and procedures to follow – especially around the installation and continued maintenance of your fire alarm system.

The code of practice that must be adhered to when installing your fire alarm system is the British Standard BS 5839. Under the Fire Safety Order, you are obligated to carry out regular services as a business or organisations.

Fire alarm system are not all created equal and there are a number of different set ups depending on what your requirements are – including the location, size and type of the premises and what they are used for. For smaller buildings with a small number of people working inside, conventional alarms may be satisfactory. But for more extensive set ups, you might need an addressable system, so that you can quickly identify the location of a fire. Fire alarm system are categorised and can fall into different grades.

Choosing and installing the appropriate set up for your needs is vital. So, you must seek advice from and have the installation completed by a professional. If your unsure as to whether you have to correct system installed, you can have the same professional carry out a fire risk assessment. They will they be able to advise you if any changes need to be made.

The fire safety regulation only state that you should make every effort to adequately maintain your fire alarm system. A lot of companies believe that annual inspections are sufficient. However, BS 5839 actually suggests that these inspections should be carried out every six months. For larger properties with more complex systems, the recommendation is for quarterly inspections to take place.

Why does my fire alarm system need to be serviced?

The most important reason to make sure that you are up to date with your fire alarm maintenance is to ensure that they are in optimal working order, in case you should experience a fire at your commercial property. If a fire can be detected efficiently, it can be tackled more easily (if trained to do so) and your building can be evacuated – keeping your staff safe. Fire spreads fast, so if it’s missed on breaking out – the consequences can be truly devastating.

The other reason to have your services completed regularly is to ensure that you do not suffer from malfunctions such as false alarms. These can come at financial cost the business if the fire service is called to a false alarm. And they also desensitize employees to the alarm, which would be dangerous if they fail to respond to a genuine alarm.

In addition to the annual, biannual or quarterly professional inspections of your fire alarm system, you should also carry out regular on-site weekly tests.

How do I test my commercial fire alarm?

In addition to your professional service, you should carry out a weekly test. This is usually as simple as testing a different call point each week and will help identify if there are any problems. A member of staff should be designated as responsible for fire safety and ensure that these tests are carried out.

BS 5839 recommends that this is performed weekly and documented in an allocated fire log book. If you identify a fault during your weekly tests, you need to call the company that services your system immediately.

To talk through your fire system installation and maintenance requirements, get in touch with us at Swift Fire & Safety on 01733 602955