Fire safety is more critical in healthcare facilities than in any other setting. Read to study some fire safety tips.
Fire hazards are a big threat to property, equipment, data, and lives. Hospitals have a large number of patients, many of whom cannot leave their beds, depending on their medical conditions or injuries. Immediately evacuating them during a fire emergency could be next to impossible.
Besides, the bulk of medical equipment and tools carry volatile chemicals, oxygen supplies, and drugs that are flammable and may cause the fire to spread more rapidly.
For all these reasons, fire safety in hospitals should be a concern for managers and staff members. While nothing is 100% certain, the most effective fire safety approach is to prevent the incident from happening. Here are 5 essential strategies to prevent fire hazards in hospitals:
Take Extra Caution in Sensitive Areas
Fires are most likely to occur in kitchens, laundry rooms, dining facilities, which is why all hospital staff should be cautious when using these areas. They should ensure that flammable items don’t accumulate somewhere and are stored safely and securely. Hospital management will need to build awareness and conduct training programs to practically ensure this.
Regular Inspection of Electric-Powered Equipment and Wires
Fires originating from electrical malfunctions such as overloaded outlets or broken wiring are most likely to spread beyond the room in which they originated. Thus, your medical facility’s electrical setup cannot be overlooked.
As advised by fire departments, the use of extension wires should be avoided as much as possible in hospitals. They must be considered as a temporary solution rather than a permanent one. Multi-plug adapters that are commonly known to overload plugs should also be avoided.
Prohibit Smoking inside the Medical Facility
Another major cause of fire hazards in any context is smoking. If carelessness with cigarettes leads to smoke coming into contact with oxygen supplies, it can immediately burn up the medical facility. Since hospitals contain too many oxygen supplies, policies pertaining to smoking should be very stringent. Besides designating a distant area for smoking, introduce tip-resistant, large metal ashtrays for smokers.
Train Your Staff to Use Firefighting Equipment
Since wet-pipe sprinkler systems are effective in confining the fire to the rooms they originated from, install them to multiple areas of the healthcare facility. They operate automatically, discharging water as soon as they detect heat from the fire. Besides automatic equipment, manual fire extinguishers should be installed in different areas. But that won’t be enough; it’s equally important to train your staff so that they can use them properly.
All firefighting equipment must be inspected every month to make sure they’re in working order.
Devise an Action Plan
Hospital management should also come up with a fire safety plan, and inform their staff about it so that everyone is prepared to address emergencies. When a fire occurs, everyone should remain calm and immediately activate a fire alarm.
The plan should define how the patients are to be rescued and how the fires should be confined such as through the use of firefighting equipment or closing hallways and doors. The staff should only attempt to extinguish small fires, while the larger ones should be left for the fire department.
