FIRE SAFETY
running and found no failures, was it then necessary to re-check them again a year after the second inspection? “You could perhaps re-check the lower-risk dampers in two years’ time instead,” he said, “or inspect 50 per cent of them in a year, and, if those prove sound, leave the others at that point. That is the direction we are trying to head in with the new guides – one where we examine the risks and suggest that if, say, you have an area with very high dependency patients, you should treat that as a priority, and check all the doors annually. With meeting rooms, however – where users are mobile and can get out on their own – we might suggest checking the compartmentation, doors, and dampers, less frequently; it’s a matter of common sense.” He added: “I work primarily on PFI projects, where there are usually financial penalties for not meeting certain targets. If you are working in a non-PFI NHS hospital, however, it is slightly different. Many NHS hospitals thus don’t do fire safety checks in line with the guidance, because it is too expensive. We are thus in an odd situation with healthcare facility fire safety. Although pretty well every Trust undertakes fire risk assessments due to CQC and fire authority pressure, when it comes to maintenance – which is not often seen – some people are not doing anything, and some are doing some things, but very few are looking at the risk and the outcome they want, and doing everything they should be. I don’t know of any hospital that checks all its fire compartmentation annually, other than some PFI ones, because it is so labour- intensive and expensive. Equally, unless a contractor has been in and put a hole in a wall to install, say, a pipe, things tend not
three-pronged strategy is that in the first instance you should undertake a fire compartmentation survey; secondly, you need to have control over anyone else likely to put holes in your fire compartments – via a Permit to Work system, and, thirdly, that you should check some, or all – dependent on the risk – of the fire compartmentation regularly.”
Fire doors in a London hospital with large apertures cut in them and wedged open.
to change very much. Take a brick wall with no holes in it, and you can very likely go back to it in 10 years’ time and it will be the same.
Lack of proper firestopping “The danger is that a contractor comes in, runs some data cables through a wall, and instead of drilling a one-inch hole and firestopping it, knocks a six-inch aperture, runs the cables through, and doesn’t bother firestopping it. How do you know the state of you fire compartments unless you physically check them? Sodexo’s
Platform’s second key focus Moving to discuss the new Technical Platform’s second initial goal, Maz Daoud explained that it hoped to establish an ‘official’ register for fire risk assessors in healthcare. He said: “We are not aware of any such register currently covering healthcare, although there are a number of non-sector specific registers, such as the one run by the Institute of Fire Engineers. We believe there is a strong need for a healthcare-specific register, because, for example, if a fire risk assessor that normally focuses predominantly on commercial and office buildings is engaged by an NHS Trust, its staff may have very little knowledge of healthcare-specific risks and challenges.” Although not yet certain how members of the proposed register would be certified, Maz Daoud envisages a process of setting standards and knowledge levels that prospective members would need to achieve. He said: “We would need some form of assessment process – whether by candidates completing an exam, or fire risk assessments, accompanied by submission of the associated documentation.” Maz Daoud stressed that is a legal requirement for hospitals and other healthcare facilities to complete a fire risk assessment, and to then review it
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APPROVED CENTRE
October 2018 Health Estate Journal 33
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