Two serious fires at care homes have occurred in the last fortnight. The first in New Grange Residential Care Home in Cheshunt claimed the lives of two residents two weeks ago and the second in Standon House Care Home in Tamworth on April 15, where emergency services evacuated 25 residents from the blaze.
To help reduce the risk of serious fires in care homes, you should first make sure you have an up-to-date fire risk assessment reflecting any changes in policy, procedure, staffing, building layout and work activities and you must regularly review it. CFW’s health & safety Anthony Acari has issued this four-step fire safety guide.
Step 1 Risk assessment
Make sure you have an up to date fire risk assessment reflecting any changes in policy, procedure, staffing, building layout and work activities, regularly reviewing it. Use the this guide as a good starting point.
The guide gives advice about completing a fire safety risk assessment for all employers, managers, occupiers and owners of premises where the main use of the building (or part of the building) is to provide residential care.
It is intended for non-domestic residential premises with staff in attendance at all times and where many, most or all of the residents would require carer assistance to be safe in the event of a fire (ie where residents would not be able to make their way to a place of safety unaided). These could include residential and nursing homes,rehabilitation premises providing residential treatment and care for addiction and care homes and care homes with nursing – as defined by the Care Standards Act 2000.
Step 2 Training
Make sure your staff are adequately trained, not only in fire awareness, but in terms of your procedure for evacuating residents, staff and visitors safely.
Do your staff know what to do in a fire? Have they attempted an evacuation drill recently? Was it a mock drill or a real attempt? Were shortcomings identified and lessons learned included in a policy or procedure review? Is your policy clear on when and who is going to contact the fire service?
Step 3 Awareness of potential causes of fire
Make sure your staff know what could contribute to the start or contribution to severity of a fire. A number of simple things can be done to minimise the risk of a fire starting. In recent years, cheap replacement mobile phone chargers and e-cigarette chargers have caused a number of fires.
So too have overloaded sockets and extension reels not fully unwound. Staff as fire wardens should check regularly that residents and other staff are not using inappropriate chargers and extension cables or overloaded sockets.
But also, failure to maintain your fixed electrical installations can prove fatal as at Rose Park care home cited below which killed 14 and where the fire broke out in a cupboard because of an earth fault with a cable passing through an electrical distribution board. An inquiry found evidence of a “defect” in the maintenance of the electrical system, which caused the fire.
Step 4 Lessons learned from other tragic fires
Make sure your policies and procedures are viewed in light of lessons learned from other incidents
While all serious injuries and fatalities are terrible, one of the worst incidents in recent years was that of the Rose Park Care Home, Lanarkshire, where 14 residents lost their lives as a result of a fire in 2004, following which Sheriff principal Brian Lockhart delivered his findings following the 141-day probe in August 2010.
He found that “some or all” of the deaths could have been prevented if the home had a “suitable and sufficient” fire safety plan. Sheriff Lockhart concluded: “The management of fire safety at Rose Park was systematically and seriously defective. The deficiencies in the management of fire safety at Rose Park contributed to the deaths.
“Management did not have a proper appreciation of its role and responsibilities in relation to issues of fire safety.”
He said the “critical failing” was not to identify residents at the home as being at risk in the event of a fire, as well as failing to consider the “worst-case scenario” of a fire breaking out at night.
A further “serious deficiency” was found in the “limited attention” given to how residents would escape from the home in the event of a fire.
The sheriff said an adequate fire plan would have revealed the problems which eventually led to the deaths, such as staff not being properly trained in fire safety and the presence of an electrical distribution board in a cupboard which opened to a “critical escape route” alongside flammable materials.
He also highlighted “inadequate arrangements” for calling the fire brigade, a lack of fire dampeners and too many people being housed in one corridor in order to evacuate them effectively. He said the risk assessment was “obtained in good faith” but contained a “serious error”.
The inquiry also concluded that the lives of four of the residents could have been saved if the fire brigade had been called as soon as the fire alarm sounded.
The women died later in hospital of conditions related to the smoke and gas they inhaled. The inquiry was told that the care home’s practice meant a member of staff had to find the source of the blaze before dialling 999.
Staff waited nine minutes before they contacted the fire service. An extra delay, of about four minutes, was added when the fire brigade went to the wrong entrance to the home.