Page 37 - FINAL DRAFT - English

Fire Safety Tips for Healthcare Facilities
Eng. Albin Thomas Safety Engineer | MH Dammam
In healthcare facilities, fire can pose greater threat to the life and health of individuals. Many patients in hospitals are unable to leave their beds due to their physical or medical condition.
Here are some important tips for preventing fire and smoke outbreak in
A smoke-free campus is a safe campus
• Educate your patients the moment they enter your care that smoking is
strictly prohibited in hospital
• keep a close eye on anyone who may be prone to smoking.
Check your cords and outlets
• Electricity can start a fire if there is a faulty equipment or improper connections. • Ensure that all equipment’s are properly plugged into a wall;
• never pull the cords to unplug the equipment.
• Make a visual inspection of all the outlets to ensure that no cords are frayed or exposed wires. • Immediately report all the electrical safety concerns to the Facility department.
Say no to personal Electrical Equipment’s
Personal electrical equipment (kettle, Turkish coffee maker, Oud burner etc.) is strictly prohibited inside the hospital.
Storage Safety
• Store the flammable items in designated storage area, • Avoid the use of shipping cartons inside the hospital.
• Keep combustible goods away from heat sources.
Exit Routes
• Ensure the emergency exit, corridor are obstruction free.
• Storing any items in corridor more than 30 minutes will consider as storage. Ensure all the staff members are familiar with:
The location of fire extinguisher, Fire Alarm Pull Station, Fire Blanket, Nearest Evacuation Chair etc.
Evacuation
General Patient Evacuation Guidelines:
• Patients in immediate danger (due to smoke or fire) shall be removed first.
• Ambulatory patients should be accompanied or directed to an adjacent smoke compartment.
• Non-Ambulatory patients should be moved using wheelchairs or stretchers when available to an adjacent smoke compartment.
• Critical patients, will be evacuated the last, while evacuating them
make sure that all the necessary lifesaving equipment’s are available. • During vertical evacuation, an evacuation chair can be utilized to
Vertical Evacuation
Horizontal Evacuation
Patients will be moved to an adjacent safe smoke compartment
on the same floor, away from
the Fire Scene.
Only if necessary and as directed, patients will be moved to another floor - typically a floor below the Fire Scene. Refer your internal disaster plan
for unit specific information’s.
The following training programs will be conducted for the staff as part of the fire safety awareness. It is advised to actively participate in the training sessions.
• Fire Safety lectures
• Unit level fire drill
• Evacuation Chair training
• Emergency response training • Live firefighting training
evacuate non-ambulatory stable patients.