Andrew Poplett, a highly experienced engineer with over 28 years’ experience in healthcare building services engineering, considers some of the key tenets of good fire safety practice in healthcare premises, noting that fire safety is a core element and consideration within CQC inspections, and under the NHS Premises Assurance Model (NHS PAM). He warns those responsible for fire safety against letting key elements ‘fall between the cracks’.
Fire prevention and protection within healthcare environments have always been high profile areas. Almost all scenarios which involve a fire are recognised as potentially catastrophic, and everyone accepts that fire precautions and risks must be carefully managed. Against this background there have been, over recent years, a number of high profile issues and investigations arising from fires within hospitals and related problems. These issues were highlighted in the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter on Fire Safety Duties from the Department of Health dated 31 January 2013 (Gateway reference 18654) to all NHS Trust Chief Executives. Subsequently there has been a further recent notification through the Estates & Facilities Alert system (ref DH/2014/003 dated 21/10/2014), which highlighted the connection of the HTM standards as a means of demonstrating compliance to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 legislation.
Risk of ‘falling between the cracks’
Most organisations are familiar with their obligations for maintenance and inspection of areas of fire precautions, such as fire alarm systems, emergency lighting, fire extinguishers, and fire doors. These tend to be actively maintained, and under near constant review. All fire officers and fire wardens are aware of these systems, and inspect them on a regular basis, with many, if not all, being managed through a routine PPM system. The vast majority of estates professionals are also very aware of the issues relating to buildings and building services which impact on the integrity of fire safety. Nevertheless, there are some critical elements of fire prevention which can ‘fall between the cracks’, and be overlooked or assumed to be complete, but are not regularly inspected. We will look at these in turn, beginning with the considerations around passive fire and compartmentation.
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