Adjacent Government highlights the problem of failing fire alarm systems in hospitals around the UK and how the Department of Health guidance document aims to help to tackle the issue…
When it comes to public buildings such as hospitals and schools, fire safety is one of the key issues that needs to be monitored. In October last year nearly £14m was spent trying to correct fire safety failings at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary. In July of the same year the News and Star newspaper reported how patients and staff were evacuated from the Infirmary following the failure of the automatic fire alarm system. Concerns were raised regarding fire safety at the hospital just days before the fire, which broke on the first floor of the building.
This begs questions regarding the regulation of fire safety in hospitals and accountability for ensuring that all fire systems in place are up to working standards. Following the fire in Carlisle a spokesperson for Health Management Carlisle said the incident was caused by a worker, employed by a sub-contractor, who failed to follow proper procedures during maintenance work on the system.
“We take incidents of this nature extremely seriously. We are reviewing our procedures to ensure this type of incident cannot happen again,” he said. The Department of Health has guidance documents setting out recommendations for the management of fire safety in healthcare buildings to ensure episodes of this nature are avoided. The Health Technical Memorandum 05:01: Managing healthcare fire safety (second edition) is intended to assist in determining the appropriate fire safety management system to be applied to healthcare organisations.
Following the fire at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, bosses at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust have trained 127 fire wardens and introduced hourly fire prevention checks.
An inspection commissioned by Trust bosses revealed that much of the hospital failed to meet the standards required. The News and Star in Carlisle used Freedom of Information laws to obtain a copy of the previously unpublished expert report into the problems, which included:
- Faulty fire safety doors with gaps that would allow smoke to pour from wards into the hospital atrium;
- Incorrectly labelled 30-minute fire doors used in a ward that should have had 60-minute fire doors;
- A defective fire alarm system, which has prompted bosses to introduce the hourly fire safety checks by staff;
- And, a failure by HMC to ensure that its staff were testing the existing fire detection and alarm systems.
In February 2015 it was reported that false fire alarms are costing hospitals in the UK hundreds of pounds in fines. London Fire Brigade began charging repeat offenders in 2014 in order to reduce the time and cash wasted on unnecessary call-outs. Some hospitals were reported to have been visited several times a week, with most false alarms caused by badly maintained systems or things like burnt toast.
Between them the top 10 worst offenders racked up £177,000 in fines, with the NHS facing a six-figure bill in the capital for 2014 due to false alarm call-outs. Shadow Health Minister at the time, Andrew Gwynne said: “The NHS can’t afford these penalties after David Cameron left hospitals on a financial knife-edge.
“The money is desperately needed for nurses on short staffed words across London.”
Despite a 7.3% drop in numbers following the introduction of the £295 charge for every false alarm after the first nine in a year, London Fire Brigade said they were still responding to one every 15 minutes on average.
Fire detection solutions are an essential part of fire safety, and whether you’re public sector, a private household, or a business, your buildings should have these within them. The Department of Health fire safety policy aims to minimise the incidence of fire throughout all activities provided by, or on behalf of, the NHS in England.
All NHS organisations are required to implement the policy and must comply with legislation relating to fire safety; and follow evidence-based best practice guidance where reasonably practicable.
They will also need to ensure that suitable and sufficient governance and assurance arrangements are in place to manage fire-related matters and demonstrate due diligence, as well as having in place a clearly defined management structure for the delivery, control and monitoring of fire safety measures, which is shared across the organisation.
Despite failings at several hospitals including the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, in August 2015 new figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government revealed that fire deaths in England have continued to fall. The figures showed that there were 6% fewer deaths in 2015 that in 2014, which continues a trend that has seen a drop of almost a third (30%) in the last decade.
Fire Minister Mark Francois, speaking about the figures, said people shouldn’t be complacent and that fire safety should still be a high priority for households and businesses.
He said: “People are safer than ever before, with deaths from fires at home at record lows – thanks to the combined efforts of households, fire and rescue authorities, and the government and business.
“It is great news that this downward trend in fire fatalities and casualties is continuing but we must not be complacent because one death is a death too many, therefore I urge people to remain vigilant about fire safety and prevention.”
Adjacent Government
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