The law requires healthcare facilities and nursing homes to have a suitable evacuation plan in place as one stringent step in protecting lives and property against fire hazards. If any facility is found without an evacuation plan, it could face hefty fines and deficiency citations. Below are some critical steps to follow when creating an evacuation plan for your facility.
Steps To Create An Evacuation Plan
The most important thing to ensure is that the plan outlines all the procedures to be conducted to evacuate the residents and staff members from the facility in the event of a fire hazard. The plan should clearly outline:
– The primary and secondary escape routes. These routes should be designed from each floor or room in the building
– Scenarios where the building needs to be evacuated completely and others when only a section of the building should be evacuated.
– The staff that will be responsible for different responses. For instance, the person who will be responsible for ensuring everyone is out of the building and those who will remain to operate critical emergency equipment.
– The plan to relocate patients. The evacuation plan should include details on where the patients will be relocated to outside the building and how the staff and residents will be accounted for once the evacuation is complete.
– How other building occupants will be warned against the fire hazard either through an alarm-signal that is activated in a manual pull station.
– How the message will reach the fire department. Either by assigning someone to make the call or through an automatic fire alarm monitoring system.
– Methods for suppressing the fire and offering fire protection Toronto such as closing the doors to isolate the affected area.
– Rules and guidelines for amending the evacuation plan whenever there is a resident with special needs that has been admitted to the facility and requires specialized care.
– The name of the expert or personnel that can be contacted to provide more information on the evacuation plan for your facility.
Train Residents And Staff
It is important for long-term residents of the facility to be fully aware of what needs to be done in the case of a fire. They need to know the evacuation plan which helps to reduce their panic level should the incidence occur. Notify residents of all primary escape routes and what they need to do if they are blocked. Residents should be advised to assist each other during a fire hazard.
Staff, on the other hand need to be well trained on the fire evacuation procedures. Any new staff member needs to be well aware of the procedures put in place for the facility. The procedures should be reviewed from time to time in order to ensure that everyone is well aware of the plan. The copy of the plan can be kept in the building’s security area for quick access whenever there is a need. Most importantly, you need to conduct fire drills so as to test staff members on how well they can implement the evacuation procedures put in place.
