FIRE SAFETY MANAGEMENT
completing the checklist must detail the reason. The FCO software flags up all the ‘No’ responses each week, both at ward level, and in an overall summary report, and the line manager also receives these, closing the loop.”
Comprehensive reporting The Fire Safety advisor explained that the Fire team receives email links to all the key reports produced, including an overarching report.
He said: “When, for example, I receive a report highlighting that a ward has missed their checklist submission for two consecutive weeks, I can easily identify the line manager and alert them. The ‘noted non-compliance’ reports we receive are also extremely useful, since they identify all issues, and what remedial action is being taken.
“Sometimes,” he added, “looking at a ward’s record, you may see an apparent anomaly, such as missing checklist returns for two or three consecutive weeks. Often, however, there is a valid reason, and we will generally know, for example, if a ward has been temporarily out of use. The software very effectively shows, at a glance, both checklists not coming back, and any issues reported via fire wardens, in an accessible way.
If we start seeing a lot of ‘red’ in one area, with no obvious explanation, the Fire team knows to call the manager and investigate. Any major concerns, or repeated failure to return completed checklists, can be escalated to the Fire Safety Committee, and onwards to the Health & Safety Committee.” Looking at another page on the system’s front screen, Jamie showed me a ‘snapshot’ of non-compliances in terms of fire safety issues week by week Trust- wide. He said: “We can very rapidly identify those wards and other areas with insufficient fire wardens, and ascertain whether this is a real issue, or, for example, in the case of a small ground floor office area, just characteristic of the location type.”
Reports and data from the software are sent regularly to both Committees, both of which meet quarterly.
Payment per licence
I asked how the Trust paid for the software. Jamie Keay said: “We pay for a licence by number of locations; all the data has to be maintained on a server, encrypted, and backed up, which is all efficiently done by Digital Missives. Only the Fire Safety manager and Fire Safety advisor have ‘Administrator’ rights, but we now also produce a monthly report for line managers to highlight where they are fire warden number-wise.”
I asked what he and the Trust’s Fire Safety manager considered had been the biggest overall benefits of the FCO
46 Health Estate Journal November 2020 L8guard
Widely used in hospitals across the UK, L8guard from Digital Missives is a simple-to-use software system designed to help healthcare estates teams ensure that low-use water outlets across a hospital estate are being regularly flushed to minimise the chances of potentially hazardous waterborne bacteria such as Legionella or Pseudomonas aeruginosa building up in pipework. The software issues regular automated online reminders to all those responsible for flushing such outlets, in line with HTM 04-01-recommended minimum frequencies. It reminds each recipient to complete online, and return, a simple form confirming that all ‘high-risk’ outlets in their ‘area’ or department have been flushed. Should the form not be promptly returned, the system automatically issues further reminders, subsequently escalating non-returns to, say, an Estates & Facilities manager or Infection Prevention and Control. These personnel can then follow up with, say, a ward manager, and, if forms are regularly not completed and returned, investigate why.
L8guard has been well received by healthcare engineering teams across the UK. Having been launched initially as a Legionella prevention tool in late 2010, the software was subsequently augmented with a separate P. aeruginosa module in 2014. Many hospital users have reported significantly increased low-use outlet flushing compliance after implementing the system.
software to date. He said: “There are a few really key ones. In particular, we can track the location of our fire wardens. The ability to efficiently manage your teams – knowing where they are, and when they were last trained, is a huge benefit, but on the other side, you have the checklist, and we know for certain when particular areas are completing it, or failing to do so. We also know about non-compliances, and can run reports on anything from the number of fire wardens in a particular area, to particular fire safety issues common across the organisation.”
Tangible and intangible benefits Having described some of the system’s ‘key merits’, Jamie Keay went on to mention more ‘intangible’ benefits, including raised fire safety awareness and a general improvement of the safety culture across the Trust. He said: “Often, it’s the low-level things – like spotting that frayed cable on the microwave – that really make the difference.”
The Fire team at Croydon University Hospital undertakes fire warden training in a dedicated training room, once a month, plus on-ward fire drills, which can be tailored to deliver a fire warden qualification. Jamie Keay explained that the latter had proven especially beneficial, because it could be difficult to get some ward staff away from their work location for classroom training – ‘so we bring it to them’.
He said: “On-ward work based training is really helping us increase our fire warden numbers. The FCO software’s adaptability is such that staff responsible for managing fire safety in a large organisation like this can either just use it for occasional checks, or, as we do, as a really valuable tool for ongoing monitoring of fire warden presence and activity. You can pretty much leave it to run itself, and it would still generate the reports, with the line managers being notified of any non-compliances. However, here I take an active interest in it, because for just a little input, you get a great deal of benefit.” “Previously I had to fill in in endless Excel spreadsheets and produce time- consuming reports which was laborious. Now, a click of a button can export the data as a PDF.”
This ‘speedometer-type’ chart shows the percentage of fire safety checks successfully submitted to date to the Fire team in a particular week.
He added: “Without a good management software system, a Fire team could struggle to understand the number, disposition, and currency of fire wardens. Fire teams would have no assurance that fire safety checks were being completed, and there is the possibility that the system would collapse without a huge resource committed to the process. I honestly don’t know how we would now manage without our Fire Compliance Online software; it has proven an extremely worthwhile, and highly cost-effective, investment for us.”
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