Fire safety in care homes

All buildings, whatever their use or purpose, are at risk of fire. However, while every fire risk assessment will seek to mitigate and reduce those risks, the care home environment faces unique challenges and fire safety procedures are inevitably complex.

Care home residents may be elderly, infirm, have a disability, be less mobile or have visual and hearing impairments – they may be vulnerable for any number of reasons and likely not be able to respond to a fire as quickly as some.

Here, we take a look at who is responsible for fire safety in residential care premises and discuss how thorough plans can be put in place to ensure the safety of all staff, residents and visitors should a fire break out.

Who is responsible for fire safety?

According to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO), the ‘responsible person’ has a duty of care and undertakes all fire safety responsibilities. In a care home setting, the responsible person is usually the care home manager. It falls to them to take all reasonable fire safety precautions to protect employees and residents – this starts with a fire risk assessment to ascertain all fire hazards and risks in the building. The care home manager must be confident of robust procedures to ensure a fire doesn’t break out and, if it does, have in place well-communicated emergency plans so the fire can be controlled and occupants of the building led to a safe escape.

Local fire and rescue authorities enforce the RRFSO and have the power to inspect premises to check they’re complaint with the order.

Managing fire safety in a care home

As in any other ‘business’ setting, every care home must be able to produce a detailed and up-to-date fire risk assessment. This is usually conducted by the responsible person. However, because care homes are considered high risk, it’s wise to appoint a professional risk assessor who has the expertise to carry out a thorough inspection and advise.

The fire risk assessment is a five-step process:

– Identify fire hazards. Sources of ignition and fuel must always be kept apart. There are many examples of each found in a care home setting – for example, electric heaters, toiletries and skin creams. Other fire hazards include fire doors being wedged open or laundry building up.

– Identify anyone at risk. While everyone is at risk of fire, some are more so than others. For example, babies and children, visitors and many residents of the care home. They will likely not be able to evacuate unaided. Government guidelines inform that residential care homes mustn’t be dependent on the fire and rescue service to evacuate people. In this setting, the evacuation needs of every resident must be assessed individually and addressed in a personal emergency evacuation plan (PEEP).

– Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect from risk. It’s the care home manager’s responsibility to ensure risk is made as low to people as reasonably practicable. This means sufficient detection and warning systems, as well as appropriate fire protection measures, like fire extinguishers, must be clearly visible and accessible around the premises.

– Record, plan, inform, instruct and train. Communication of all fire safety measures and expected actions in the event of a fire is key. All hazards must be recorded.

– Regularly review the fire risk assessment. This is especially important in residential care homes, as there are often lots of changes – particularly at this time when care homes are trying to be as COVID-secure as possible. The care home manager must ensure that any changes made to the layout of the building, processes or fire escape plans, for example, to account for COVID-19 precautions mustn’t affect fire safety. Regular reviewing the fire risk assessment in light of COVID-19 precautions is a wise move. Take a look at our return-to-normal fire safety checklist for more information here.

Produce a sound evacuation strategy

Arguably the most challenging area of fire safety in a care home: ensuring the efficient and safe escape of all residents. The evacuation strategy must take into account a large number of factors, including employees’ shift patterns, residents’ mobility needs and PEEPs, and provide enough time to hold back fire and smoke. It’s extremely important the responsible person seeks advice from either a competent, trained person or their local fire service if they’re at all uncertain where evacuation methods are concerned.

There’s a lot to take into consideration when planning escape routes and evacuation plans, including the number and dependency of people using the building, and assisted means of escape. The level of dependency required and how quickly each resident can escape must be given the utmost attention here. In a care home setting, residents and those occupying the premises are generally considered according to their dependency as follows:

– Independent: These residents are entirely capable of physically leaving the building without any help from staff. Their mobility generally isn’t impaired, although where it is, it’s minimal and they don’t require assistance.

– Very high dependency: Residents who rely extremely heavily on staff. For these people, immediate evacuation would prove potentially life threatening and so due consideration must be given to their PEEPs.

– Dependent: This category defines those who don’t fall into either of the other categories.

Residents who are classed as dependent or very high dependency will vary in terms of level of awareness and mobility and it’s for this reason that all staff – including temporary staff – must be highly trained in all evacuation procedures. They must be able to calm residents distressed by the alarm sounding and understand intricately actions required of them depending on the resident’s impairment. Depending on their condition and type of care they need, some residents may be confined to their bedrooms (if they’re receiving oxygen for example), which may impact their escape. HM Government’s Fire Safety Risk Assessment: Residential Care Premises highlights: “In these circumstances it may be appropriate to allow them to remain in their rooms whilst the fire is dealt with and the danger has passed, or to allow for the additional time necessary to prepare them for evacuation.

It adds: “In such circumstances, it will be necessary to provide enhanced levels of structural fire protection to the individual bedroom. However, where this strategy has been adopted, a suitable evacuation plan will still be required.”

It’s also crucial all this information is recorded in the care home’s fire risk assessment and communicated in detail to all staff.

Appropriate signage for escape routes

The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 requires that residential care premises must provide adequate and specific signs alerting to a risk of fire and highlight necessary action required. Staff, residents and visitors to the premises must be able to clearly identify escape routes, locate firefighting equipment and know where and how to raise the alarm. The importance of fire safety signs should never be under-estimated – they provide crucial guidance in times of emergency. Find out more in our comprehensive guide about the categories of fire safety signage.

Key fire safety priorities

The above outlines procedures, policies and equipment that must be in place for residential care premises to comply with law and ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of residents, staff and visitors. However, there’s much more besides this the responsible person must bear in mind and, where necessary, communicate to all who use the premises. Corridors and stairways that make up the escape route must be kept clear and unobstructed at all times, while fire doors must, not under any circumstances, be wedged open. Fire extinguishers must be annually serviced and properly maintained to ensure they’re fit for purpose in the event of a fire (this is law), while it’s strongly advised all fire alarms are tested weekly. Common sense should prevail where fire safety is concerned – if it looks like it may be a fire hazard, remove the risk immediately.

Fire safety should be treated as a first priority in every premises – even more so in residential care premises because of the number of vulnerable occupants. It’s most important to stress that if you’re a care home manager and unsure of where your responsibilities lie or appropriate action to take, you should enlist the help of a competent person who can advise and support. Take a look at the government’s guidance on fire safety risk assessment for residential care premises and bookmark CheckFire’s resource centre to keep up to date with fire safety law and industry insights.