FIRE SAFETY MANAGEMENT
the questions, which are customisable. Photographs of non-compliances can be uploaded, as can lists of actions, documents, and floor plans.
Compliance and reporting The FCO Fire Wardens module that I discussed with the team at Croydon Health Services includes a powerful ‘dashboard’ showing the levels of fire warden and fire risk assessment as simple graphics. Additionally, automated reports are sent out to nominated personnel to highlight current performance and areas of possible risk.
When I met Trust Fire Safety advisor, Jamie Keay, at the hospital, he explained that, prior to use of the software, management of fire wardens and checks was problematic and difficult to coordinate; he worked with Digital Missives to create a product that was fit for purpose and met the needs of fire safety in the healthcare sector. He added: “HTM 05-01 guidance recommends that healthcare facilities have fire wardens, based on the size and complexity of the Trust’s buildings and activities. I joined the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust in August 2015 from St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Tooting, where I was the Fire Safety manager. I have since had a number of external fire specialists come in – some with Fire Brigade experience – to help with fire safety risk assessments and fire safety training.”
He continued: “On taking up my post, I started a big immediate push to recruit and train fire wardens. The system in place for fire warden checks was paper- based and cumbersome, and keeping track of fire wardens who regularly change work location was difficult. Tim Moore of Digital Missives, who had already provided bespoke software solution for the management of Legionella risk in the Trust (L8Guard), was approached to design a solution.” The Trust took the decision to note shortfalls in fire warden management on the Departmental Risk Register, and supported the drive for improvement recommended by Jamie Keay as Fire Safety manager.
Monitoring the response He explained that ‘from the start, our initial focus was to recruit ward-based staff, including nurses, healthcare assistants, and ward clerks’. He said: “We are now in a strong position, and have rolled out training to other groups such as the Estates team and Fire team. Our Fire team is led by a Clinical Site Practitioner, the target is to attend a fire signal within eight minutes, and it is essential that the staff involved have an advanced understanding of fire. The Fire Safety manager and Fire Safety advisor are
The Fire Safety advisor at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, Jamie Keay, says the Fire Compliance Online software has proven ‘a worthwhile, and highly cost-effective, investment for us’.
paged to attend and monitor, and observation of the fire team response is used to tailor training and information in the fire wardens’ checklist.”
Early policy has been to set a minimum and an optimum number of fire wardens for each area. The minimum is normally set at five, which is considered sufficient to cover staff absences, and the optimum at eight, to allow for subsequent staff movements. The software dashboard provides comprehensive information of this as a graphic which is easy to understand.
While significantly boosting the number of fire wardens had been ‘a good first move’, Jamie Keay acknowledged that this had been ‘just the start’. After he talked further to Tim Moore at Digital Missives, the software company went on to develop the new software system, Fire Compliance Online.
Software’s functions and benefits Here, to highlight the software’s practical benefits, Jamie Keay began taking me through some of its functions and features, showing me various ‘screens’ and dashboards on a PC in our meeting room. Looking at the first, he explained: “Look down the left, and you will see our ‘Community buildings’, which are anywhere within the borough of Croydon. Underneath this listing there is the main site here, where you can see all the wards and other clinical and non-clinical buildings. In fact, all of our inpatient and outpatient buildings are visible.” He added: “Via the software, you can drill down – site by site, and block by block – and then into each department or area.” Looking at Fairfield 1, a first floor ward in the London Wing at Croydon University Hospital, he showed me a screen listing the availability of fire wardens for the area. He said: “There, for example, is the ward manager, and you can also see the fire wardens we have trained. The software also enables me to ‘see’ all the fire wardens together, and when they were trained. We have established quite a large database now – on who the fire wardens are, their email address, location, last training, and whether they are a manager. Fire Compliance Online enables us to see all our fire wardens Trust-wide, on a universal list, or area by area. All this data is held ‘in the cloud’ for us, securely encrypted, by Digital Missives.”
The checklist
Digital Missives’ founder and managing director, Tim Moore.
Looking next at a number of tabs across the ‘Home’ screen, he pointed out both the tab for the Fire Compliance Online Fire Wardens module, and for the Fire Risk Assessment module.
He explained: “This enables the load of November 2020 Health Estate Journal 43
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