Fire safety in healthcare facilities is essential, where the well-being of patients, staff, and visitors is the top priority. Effective fire safety standards and regulations play a crucial role in ensuring the readiness of healthcare facilities to respond to fire emergencies and protect lives.
Fire is a potential hazard in all healthcare facilities including hospitals, clinics and health centres. The consequences of fire in a hospital or other healthcare premises can be particularly serious due to the difficulties and dangers associated with the emergency evacuation of patients, many of whom may be dependent on others or have a mobility impairment.
It is important to understand the key measures and requirements to ensure fire safety in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Fire safety in healthcare involves considerations ranging from building codes to fire-rated doors in order to adhere to regulations and mitigate fire risks.
Organising and Managing Fire Precautions
Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 05-01, which focuses on managing hospital and healthcare fire safety, states that the ultimate responsibility for fire precautions lies with the chief executive of the healthcare organisation or the individual responsible for overseeing the management of the healthcare premises. The document emphasises the need for healthcare organisations to designate a Fire Safety Manager who will lead all healthcare fire safety activities.
Each healthcare facility must have a comprehensive guide in place for installing and maintaining effective physical fire precautions, such as fire doors, to ensure prompt detection and warning and halt the spread of fires. It is an essential part of fire safety in healthcare facilities that fire precaution policies are regularly reviewed and updated. It is important to reflect changes in building structures, functions, contents and any other factors relevant to fire safety.
Our fire doors are designed and manufactured to meet the rigorous hospital and healthcare fire safety requirements set by HTM, ensuring optimal safety and performance in medical facilities.
In addition to being HTM compliant, all premises must conduct fire risk assessments to align with the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for healthcare fire safety.
Checking Fire Doors in Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities
All facilities should have a fire risk assessment and nominate a responsible person who bears legal accountability under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (FSO) 2005. One key responsibility of the responsible person is to ensure that, in the event of an emergency, individuals can evacuate the premises swiftly and safely in addition to checking existing fire doors.
Checking fire-rated doors is a vital part of fire safety in healthcare facilities. Fire doors should be checked by the responsible person(s) regularly, with the recommendation being six-monthly intervals for superficial damage, structural damage, excessive bowing or deformation.
When checking a fire door to ensure fire safety in hospitals, it’s important to look for the following:
- Certification: look for a label or plug on top, or occasionally on the side of the door. Without a certification mark, you cannot be sure a door is fire-rated.
- Gaps: check the gaps around the top and sides of the door are consistently less than 4mm when the door is closed. The gaps under the door can be 8mm, but it depends on the type of door. The gaps should not be large enough to allow smoke and fire to travel through the cracks.
- Seals: look for any intumescent seals around the door or frame. Check that they are intact with no sign of damage and ensure that the seals will expand if they are in contact with heat.
- Hinges: check all hinges are firmly fixed with no missing or broken screws
- Closing: check the door closes firmly onto the latch without sticking on the door or the frame. A fire door only works when it is closed.
Compartmentalising With Fire-Rated Doors
Considering the needs of patients in a healthcare facility and their mobility or lack of mobility is a key aspect of fire safety in hospitals. Many patients in hospitals and nursing homes have limited mobility or are considered too ill to quickly evacuate. Therefore, healthcare facilities are defined as “Defend in Place” facilities, meaning that they prioritise protecting designated areas.
By compartmentalising healthcare facilities with fire doors, the spread of flames and smoke can be effectively contained, creating protective barriers for individuals with restricted mobility or other hindrances. It is important to note that when considering fire safety in healthcare facilities, fire doors serve the same purpose as any other door. However fire doors have the added critical function of enhancing safety and safeguarding vulnerable individuals.
Fire-Rated Doors for Healthcare Facilities
At Sentry Doors, we fully recognise the critical role of fire doors in high-stress environments such as healthcare facilities and hospitals. To help you provide an uncompromised level of safety, we offer an extensive range of fire-rated doors, each one rigorously tested for stringent compliance with the latest regulations to guarantee fire safety in healthcare facilities.
Act now. Protect your patients and staff with high-quality hospital doors that provide reliable fire resistance and greater peace of mind. Browse our range or contact our team today for more information on how our fully-certified products can ensure fire safety in hospital and healthcare.
