Fire risk management in sheltered housing

This was the message delivered by Turner & Townsend’s Paul Lane to attendees of the opening session in the Fire & Evacuation Theatre at Fire Safety Scotland this morning (3 May). Paul went through the key considerations relating to fire risk management in sheltered and extra-care accommodation, and outlined some of the solutions. Chief among the reasons why fire can have such a catastrophic effect in such facilities, he said, is the vulnerability of the residents. Looking at the number of fire-related fatalities per million people, there are 4.8 among the general public, 7.9 in the 65-79 age group and a whopping 17.9 in the over 80s age group.

The three main causes of fire in sheltered accommodation and extra-care facilities are, said Paul, smoking materials, clothes and textiles, and furniture and fittings. He explained: “Smoke and heat detection is therefore vital to facilitate evacuation. Fire suppression is rarely fitted to all areas in such facilities, and there is often an acceptance that the resident in the room of origin of the fire won’t be saved. This should not be acceptable.”

Other factors, he continued, are a lack of understanding of the ‘stay-put’ principle, failure to match fire-alarm and remote monitoring to the fire evacuation strategy, not fully considering the risks relating to communal areas, and – above all – limited and varying staff levels.

Paul then went through some of the solutions to these issues. He said: “Consider resident-generic factors, such as smoking, the likelihood of hoarding and use of medical gases, like oxygen, for example. You also need to bear in mind residents’ potential to respond to a fire alarm – how do you ensure they react in the way you want them to? And what about their ability to escape? Many residents in sheltered accommodation are wheelchair-bound. You may need person-specific controls in some instances, such as smoking aprons, visual alarms, voice sounders, local suppression systems. This all goes back to doing everything reasonably practicable to ensure you protect the individual in the room of origin of the fire.”

A stay-put policy is generally fine for sheltered accommodation, said Paul, as long as there is compartmentation integrity (60 minutes), as well as a robust alarm and remote monitoring strategy. He continued: “There should be separate fire alarms for the flats and the communal areas, but the alarms in the latter shouldn’t sound at more than 45dBA. Your fire risk strategy should include plans for locating those who may need extra assistance.”

He reminded listeners of the specific dangers of mobility scooters, which, if they catch fire, can general a great deal of smoke and heat. He said: “There should be specially designated and suitably designed storage and charging areas for these vehicles. They should not be kept in the residents’ own accommodation, and never stored in corridors or stairwells.”

Finally, staffing levels and shift patterns should be carefully considered. Paul explained: “If a communal-area alarm is activated, care staff may be attending to a resident at the time. It can be difficult for them to marshal all areas – particularly if the site includes several communal areas, and externally-managed facilities, such as cafes and salons. Solutions include prescribing minimum staffing levels for certain times of the day – particularly when events are being held. Any external providers on the site should also be given fire-marshal responsibility. And, of course, a comprehensive fire-evacuation strategy must be in place and understood. “