Hospitals are places that everyone visits to achieve better health, but it can also become an absolute nightmare. The topic of hospital fire safety is challenging to come up with. It triggers strong emotions and vivid memories, along with many questions about health facilities’ ability to fulfill their legal obligation to protect their personnel and patients from injury.
Many causes can be identified that can cause fires in hospitals, such as damaged or defective instruments, equipment, or machinery and patients’ misuse of fire. It can have a negative impact not only on employees and patients but also on the environment. Fire Extinguishers in hospitals are essential in the present day. In this article, the prevention and causes of fire in hospitals are discussed below.
Here are three primary reasons for fire in hospitals. Check them out:
Electric Medical Equipment
The malfunctioning of equipment or wiring is the leading cause of hospital fires. A faulty wiring can be due to a poor installation or damaged wire. Equipment that fails could be damaged components or parts which were not adequately repaired.
Electrical devices that are defective, such as dimmers and switches, extensions that are too heavy, broken appliances, overloaded sockets, overloading circuits, and surges of electricity due to electromagnetism or electromagnetic sources, are also sources of electrical fires.
Kitchen Facilities in Hospital
Kitchen fires are common. They’re one of the main reasons for commercial building fires. A fire in the kitchen can cause massive damage since kitchens are a primary source of fires in the hospital. It is caused by a variety of factors, such as a rise in the number of staff members who move around and prepare their meals in addition to the increase in the number of individuals who interact with electrical equipment.
Cylinders of Gas, Medical Oxygen Cylinders with Medical Oxygen
Gas cylinders are containers used to store pressurized gases such as oxygen, acetylene, butane, and propane. Several hospital locations use them, including operating rooms, pharmacies, and supply closets.
While these Medical Oxygen cylinders appear secure and are a standard part of hospital equipment, they can be deadly if taken care of appropriately. Cylinders may explode when filled too full or if the valves fail.
Equipment for medical and surgical use
Though they were made with fire safety in mind, Many of the materials in hospitals can ignite. Oxygen canisters and gas tanks must be handled and stored correctly, and procedures for the loading of electrical equipment should be adhered to when using energy-intensive equipment.
Hospital kitchens
Many fire hazards in kitchens can result from cooking with fats to open flames. It is vital to ensure that the pans and grills are regularly cleaned, and kitchens are outfitted with fire-safety equipment.
Cables and sockets that are overused
Electrics that are faulty or overloaded are among the leading causes of fires in hospitals. Because of the vast amount of electrical devices required in hospitals, there are numerous dangers. Blocked electricity points, short-circuits, and worn or defective wirings are all significant fire risks.
Smoking
Even though over two-thirds of NHS hospitals now have a complete prohibition of smoking, it is a significant fire risk. Smoke stubs that are not correctly disposed of can lead to fires in ashtrays that can quickly spread if they are not dealt with promptly. Smoking areas must be placed in a secure area far from the hospital’s main structures. This info is essential for preventing fires in hospitals.
Fire protection in hospitals
While there are numerous methods to minimize fire hazards in hospitals, here are three standard fireproofing ways to ensure that flames can be controlled effectively.
-
Hospital fire compartmentation
In a hospital, fire compartmentation is crucial to stop a fire from spreading horizontally and laterally to various rooms. Hospitals are divided into different fire compartments. Each is a self-contained unit with fire-resistant flooring and walls.
There must be no gaps between walls, doors, or ceilings within the hospital to maintain compartmentation security. It’s not a good idea to have fireproof doors when there’s a gap between the frame and the door. Smoke and fumes that are toxic can quickly get through standard doorways. That’s the reason why it’s essential to be sealed.
This process is referred to as fire stopping, and it requires the installation of tested fireproof systems to the structure around the door or on it to prevent the spread of smoke and fire from one part of the structure to the next.
-
Fire doors
Fire doors must not just be strategically placed to facilitate evacuation; they have to be resistant to fire, too. The minimum protection period required for NHS fire doors runs for 30 minutes, although this could be longer in certain areas where evacuation is believed to be slow.
Regulations permit doorways for flames to be built from various materials (timber, aluminum steel, gypsum, and steel). They can even include windows as long as they comply with their classification of time protection.
They must also be marked as fire doors designed for evacuation reasons and have an automatic closing mechanism to guarantee the security of the structure’s compartmentation. Furthermore, the space between the frame and frame must be sealed by the cold seals for smoke.
-
Sprinkler system
A high-pressure sprinkler system can lessen the effects of a fire without the need for a lot of water. The company claims its products reduce injury risks by up to 80 percent and damage to property by up to 90 percent.
Examining the risk of fire in hospitals
To ensure that they fully comply with the most current regulations on fire safety, hospitals must perform regular assessments of fire risks (FRAs) with an outside partner. When conducting an FRA, a qualified assessor will go over current measures for fireproofing and assess the potential dangers to buildings from fire. The final report will give extensive information on fire safety within the building, as well as what can be done to improve the situation and make it more in compliance with regulations.
Singh is an experienced spiritual writer and the resident author at Guruvanee.com. With a deep passion for exploring the mystical aspects of life, Singh delves into various spiritual traditions, philosophies, and practices to inspire readers on their spiritual journeys.