SAFETY & SECURITY A Safe Escape The experts at Safelincs advise on how to ensure fire safety for all in your care facility.
When budgets are squeezed by cost increases, it can be tempting to cut corners to save money. However, where fire safety is concerned, cutting corners could cost someone their life. Getting your fire safety right in your care setting could make the difference between life or death for vulnerable residents, staff, and visitors.
“The heavy nature of a fire door and the force of
the door closer can cause issues for your residents.”
The responsible person for fire safety within your facility could face prosecution, a fine, or even a custodial sentence for fire safety breaches. In January 2022, BUPA Care Services (ANS) was ordered to pay over £1m for fire safety breaches that resulted in the tragic death of a resident. In 2019, New Grange Care Home was fined £175,000, and Gold Care Consultancy Ltd received a fine of £90,000 for breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, there are many more examples.
FIRE RISK ASSESSMENTS
The starting point of your fire safety plan has to be a robust fire risk assessment. Fire risk assessments (FRA) are a legal requirement and will identify any areas of concern that need addressing. The person carrying out this assessment must be competent and have adequate knowledge to effectively assess your care setting. Care and nursing homes are classed as high risk and it might be wise to ask a trained Fire Risk Assessor to complete this assessment rather than attempting to do the FRA without sufficient training.
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/risk-assessment-info/ FIRE DOORS Fihrte doors are an essential part of your fire safety equipment
tps://
www.safelinc
.co.uk/30-and-60-minute-fire-doors-fd30-fd60/ and will stop the spread of fire, giving staff and residents valuable time to escape to safety. To provide this protection, fire doors must be closed when a fire occurs. This is achieved with fire door closers that close the doors once a person has passed through. However, the heavy nature of a fire door and the force of the door closer can cause issues for your residents. Frail and elderly residents can get trapped in the doors as they slowly walk through them, or may not even be strong enough to open the door in the first place. These issues can lead to injury and isolation, affecting physical and mental wellbeing.
In a bid to prevent these issues staff may be tempted to pin fire doors open with a door wedge, or heavy objects such as a fire
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extinguisher. This kind of practice can be fatal in the event of a fire and is illegal, allowing fire and toxic smoke to spread rapidly.
LEGAL WAYS TO HOLD FIRE DOORS OPEN
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/dorgard-and-other-fire-door-retainers/
There are cost-effective, legal solutions, such as battery- operated fire door retainers that can be retrofitted to your existing fire doors to enable you to hold your fire doors open legally. These devices listen for the sound of your fire alarm and on hearing it, automatically release the fire door, allowing your door to close, preventing the spread of fire and toxic smoke. Wire-free devices, such as Dorgard and Dorgard SmartSound, can be installed by your handyman in five minutes. If you need a system that will give you a one-glance system check for up to 500 fire doors, then Dorgard Pro will be more suitable. Dorgard holds fire doors in the open position. If you need a fire door to be as weightless as a normal door the Freedor Free-swing fire door closer system is a great solution. The Freedor allows the fire door to swing freely and be easily opened or leſt open at any angle, giving you more flexibility in the management of your fire doors. The door closer function is triggered by the sound of your fire alarm.
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/dorgard-fire-door-retainers/
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/dorgard-smartsound-fire-door-retainers/ https://www.safelincs.co.uk/dorgard-pro-fire-door-retainers/
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/freedor-pro-wireless-hold-open-free-swing-fire-door-closer-system/ ARE YOUR FIRE DOORS COMPLIANT?
The integrity of existing fire doors must be checked on a regular basis as they can become damaged through general use and age. A fire door will only be able to stop the spread of
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