FIRE SAFETY
Wireless systems’ benefits in modular buildings
Modular construction is rapidly growing in popularity, with offsite builds becoming commonplace across a range of sectors, including healthcare. In a sector where buildings need to be cost-effective, high quality, and delivered with minimal disruption, modular builds can be an ideal solution. When it comes to fire safety in these environments, however, what is the answer? Hochiki Sales manager, Mark Smith, explains the benefits of wireless life safety systems, and ‘why they are particularly suited to healthcare facilities’.
Whether a healthcare provider requires a new operating theatre, outpatient clinic, mobile testing centre, or a temporary emergency facility – such as the Nightingale hospitals, modular construction can quickly provide environments that are not only fit for purpose, but also meet rigorous clinical standards. Modular solutions can be used for new-build or refurbishment projects, and can offer faster build times, improved energy efficiency, and an enhanced experience – enabling healthcare organisations to increase capacity or align their estates to meet changing demands in rapid timescales. As well as meeting construction requirements, it is also vital that the life safety systems installed within healthcare buildings are of the highest quality, and can be relied upon by estates and facilities managers to safeguard patients and staff.
More important than ever
Life safety is important in any building, but when you take into account vulnerable patients and the sheer number of people accommodated in, and working within, healthcare settings, effective fire detection is arguably more important here than in many other workplaces. In addition, of course, the past year has seen the healthcare sector faced an unprecedented challenge as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the vulnerability of patients and staff, as well as the responsibility of duty-holders. Wireless life safety detection presents an innovative and reliable solution to these increasing demands due to its various installation and operational benefits. Here I will explain the wide-ranging suitability of such systems for modular builds, and their many advantages for life safety installers.
Protecting the vulnerable Healthcare environments provide a safe space for vulnerable individuals, so safety is fundamental to the design and ongoing management of these buildings. No simple task, achieving and maintaining health and safety compliance in medical facilities
Hochiki’s Hybrid Wireless Optical Smoke Detector.
requires careful assessment and evaluation – as well as investment in the right systems and equipment. The pressures of the past year have seen many healthcare facilities having to rethink the way they use their space, in order to accommodate additional intensive care units, testing facilities, and specialist isolation pods.
Due to the speed and quality control benefits of offsite manufacture, modular builds, and other modern methods of construction, are increasingly being called upon by healthcare providers in the NHS seeking additional capacity, fast. In October 2020, the Prime Minister confirmed that 40 new hospitals would be built by 2030, as part of a package worth £3.7 billion. He announced that new standards will be developed to help standardise the design of new hospitals, and make use of modular construction methods to speed up the build. So, let me now get on and address fire and life safety detection within such buildings.
An ‘extra layer’ of considerations Fire detection sits at the very heart of the safety agenda within healthcare buildings, but in such settings there is an extra layer of key considerations to address. Firstly, it’s crucial that the fire detection systems selected are totally reliable, and that false alarms are reduced to a minimum. False fire alarms can disrupt surgeries and other procedures, not to mention the complex logistics of evacuating a hospital, for instance, where people are unconscious and connected to life-saving equipment, or too sick to react sufficiently responsively without help in the event of a fire. In healthcare settings, there is the added pressure of assisting individuals with impaired mobility, hearing, or sight, and of course any panic or distress brought about by unnecessary fire drills could be extremely detrimental to patients’ health and wellbeing, while causing considerable additional stress for caregivers. Healthcare estates and facilities managers not only face the burdens of
May 2021 Health Estate Journal 53
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