Fire in the healthcare setting can occur due to multiple causes such as defective electricity wiring, storage of combustible chemicals, and smoking materials. The United States fire departments, in 2006- 2010, reported that they approximately responded to 6240 health care structures in a year (Ahrens, 2012). The fires resulted in six deaths in average, 171 injuries, and $52.1 million of property loss (Ahrens, 2012). Therefore, there is an urgent need for fire prevention and basic disaster management in healthcare institutions. Fire prevention entails effective planning and performing measures to prevent fires, and reduce the damage caused by fire.
Fire Prevention in Long Term Care
Smoking or inflammable materials are the main cause of fire …show more content…
In recent years, disaster planning for all public buildings has become even more important. Therefore, finding information about disaster planning for the hospitals is crucial to ensure that plans for hospital disaster work well. Any disaster - whether man-made or natural - is unique in terms of injuries, possible biological hazards, location, or any number of other variables which means that pre-planning for disaster response is very important. It is far more effective to implement a plan - even one that needs to be changed to suit the circumstances - than to improvise from scratch after a disaster has occurred. Basic disasters could disrupt essential public services such as transport, communications, sanitation and health care, and it may include unforeseen threats to public health. The plan for disaster should list the staff of office, and who will be responsible for creating and providing all the equipment and supplies that are available. Not only medical personnel should be familiar with the plan for disaster, but other hospital staff and even volunteers and psychologists should be part of it as well so that they are available to support family members and victims. The hospital disaster plan has to cover activation plan, command center - which can be in the emergency room - traffic flow, decontamination, processing zones, special areas such as waiting rooms and morgue and …show more content…
Personnel is to be informed on what to do in case of fire or basic disaster. For example, they should be trained on how to use fire alarms, extinguishers, and any other safety equipment in the institution (Wilder, S. 2014). The emergency plan should also be written and ought to include staff response, and fire protection guidelines. All staff must be regularly informed and instructed with respect to their responsibilities and duties under the emergency plan. Copies of the emergency plans should always be readily available in the institution. Fire emergency plans should be constantly updated or reviewed as necessitated by occupancy or staff assignment changes (Wilder, S. 2014). Institutions are also required to have first aid stations where fire casualties are given essential treatment before being given further treatment. It is also important for institutions to have the contacts of fire response teams such as ambulances and fire fighters. Adhering to the items above, the situation can be
Fire Prevention in Long Term Care
Smoking or inflammable materials are the main cause of fire …show more content…
In recent years, disaster planning for all public buildings has become even more important. Therefore, finding information about disaster planning for the hospitals is crucial to ensure that plans for hospital disaster work well. Any disaster - whether man-made or natural - is unique in terms of injuries, possible biological hazards, location, or any number of other variables which means that pre-planning for disaster response is very important. It is far more effective to implement a plan - even one that needs to be changed to suit the circumstances - than to improvise from scratch after a disaster has occurred. Basic disasters could disrupt essential public services such as transport, communications, sanitation and health care, and it may include unforeseen threats to public health. The plan for disaster should list the staff of office, and who will be responsible for creating and providing all the equipment and supplies that are available. Not only medical personnel should be familiar with the plan for disaster, but other hospital staff and even volunteers and psychologists should be part of it as well so that they are available to support family members and victims. The hospital disaster plan has to cover activation plan, command center - which can be in the emergency room - traffic flow, decontamination, processing zones, special areas such as waiting rooms and morgue and …show more content…
Personnel is to be informed on what to do in case of fire or basic disaster. For example, they should be trained on how to use fire alarms, extinguishers, and any other safety equipment in the institution (Wilder, S. 2014). The emergency plan should also be written and ought to include staff response, and fire protection guidelines. All staff must be regularly informed and instructed with respect to their responsibilities and duties under the emergency plan. Copies of the emergency plans should always be readily available in the institution. Fire emergency plans should be constantly updated or reviewed as necessitated by occupancy or staff assignment changes (Wilder, S. 2014). Institutions are also required to have first aid stations where fire casualties are given essential treatment before being given further treatment. It is also important for institutions to have the contacts of fire response teams such as ambulances and fire fighters. Adhering to the items above, the situation can be