Fire safety in registered residential care home

[Ron]

Hi All

Please provide a view on the safety measures when a large residential home provides bathrooms with electric powered chairs for hoisting persons in and out the bath.  They are a permanent fixture.

Do you consider that in view of the introduced risk a SC Fire door should be fitted along with heat detection linked in to the main system.  5 yearly elec tests are conducted on fixed installations but acrylic bath do burn well and give off lots of smoke.

Thanks

 

[Tom Sutton]

It is all about fire risk assessment, what are the chances of any equipment in the bathroom starting a fire and if a fire starts how severe is the chances of it developing.

If the bathroom is occupied and a fire starts then there will be an immediate response allowing the residents to get to the adjacent zone.

When the bathroom is unoccupied is there any electrical equipment without an isolation switch on the outside of the bathroom, is the electric supply protected with a RCD, the location of the bathroom in relationship to the means of escape and what is the fire loading in the bathroom.

In the above situation, as there will always be a possibility of a fire, then I think a heat detector could be fitted but as to the need for a FD30s would depend on the assessment.

[Ron]

Hi Tom

 

Thanks for your prompt reply and logical thought process.

[Tom Sutton]

No prob.