The LWF Blog

Fire Risk Assessment for Healthcare Premises – Managing Fire Safety – Part 94

July 4, 2022 11:26 am

LWF’s blog series for healthcare professionals aims to give information on best practice of fire safety in hospitals and other healthcare premises. In part 93 of Fire Risk Assessments for Healthcare Premises, LWF looked at how the Chief Executive should approach evaluating, removing, reducing risk and protecting people from risk. In part 94, we consider how risk to people should be evaluated.

The greatest risk to people from fire is that they become trapped in the building and are unable to effect a prompt evacuation to a place of total safety. In a healthcare environment, whether full evacuation from the building or progressive horizontal evacuation is used, this risk is one that needs to be addressed comprehensively.

It is important to consider different scenarios in order to evaluate the risk:

• A fire starting on a lower floor could affect the escape routes for people on upper floors or an escape route for people with disabilities.
• A fire developing in an unused or unoccupied space that must be passed by building occupants in order to escape the building.
• The spread of fire and smoke through a building which could affect people in remote areas. This could occur through vertical shafts, service ducts, ventilation systems or poorly designed or maintained walls, partitions and ceilings.
• Where it is possible that the ventilation system could spread flames, smoke and hot gases from a fire, it is important to protect means of escape from the hazard. Ventilation ducts should be fitted with fire dampers at any point they cross compartment boundaries in walls or floors, the dampers are designed to close when the fire alarm detects a fire. In the case of sub-compartment walls, dampers may be used which operate through fusible links (which operate when the heat from a fire melts the fusible link).
• The potential for fire and smoke to spread through a building due to incorrectly installed or maintained fire doors, or services penetrating fire-resistant walls that have not been effectively fire stopped.
• The likelihood of fire doors being wedged open.

Particular attention should be paid to the risk of fires in non-patient access areas, adjacent to patient access areas.

In Part 95 of LWF’s blog series, LWF will continue to discuss how risk to people should be evaluated in the fire risk assessment. In the meantime, if you have any questions about this blog, or wish to discuss your own project with one of our fire engineers, please contact us.

Lawrence Webster Forrest has been working with their clients for over 25 years to produce innovative and exciting building projects. If you would like further information on how LWF and fire strategies could assist you, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.