Fire Safety policies in Extra Care
Does anyone have examples of effective fire safety policies covering the housing of people with dementia and those who are very physically frail/disabled? Do you have a staying put policy? What guidance/training do you issue to staff?
From Sarah Vallelly of Housing 21:
I attach an excerpt from our draft report (below) from the workshop we ran in December.
Fire & evacuation procedures.
There is a strong risk in terms of the evacuation of the building in the event of a fire breaking out. This links to the point previously made about the sustainability of 24 hour cover in extra care schemes. Currently specialist housing schemes for older people are designed around a 'stay put policy' whereby the residents remain in their own home unless instructed to evacuate due to close proximity of the blaze. Under the new Regulatory Reform Order 2005 (which came into effect in October 2006) the fire brigade no longer have an obligation to evacuate a building and it is down to a nominated 'Responsible Person' to undertake a Risk Assessment and ascertain how the building could be evacuated. The risk assessment in Extra Care buildings would highlight those people with limited mobility who may need assistance to get down the stairs using for example an evacu-chair and the staff would assist these people if the fire is close to their dwelling. (Question - what is the situation in sheltered housing now? Is this 'housing related support' / part of core landlord service? Links to duty of care discussion.) If the building is no longer staffed at night and a fire breaks out the issue would be how to evacuate such a person from an upper floor. The knock on effect of having no staff in the building at night would be that commissioners, landlords, architects and builders will have to look at contingencies including the introduction of sprinklers and perhaps even having evacuation lifts, both of which would add substantial cost to the building and would affect the layout. Such additional costs at the outset of a project may put off commissioners and housing providers who decide that the development is not cost effective.
I know the issue of registration and extra care has been doing the rounds recently and care homes have to have different regulations and standards compared to housing settings - sprinklers etc - but it all sounds rather complicated.
Hope this is useful.
Sarah Vallelly
Housing 21
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