Guidance – Evacuation in Residential Care Premises

The Communities and Local Government Guide to Fire Safety Risk Assessment for Residential Care Premises (CLG Guide) was published by HM Government to provide guidance regarding compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The National Association for Safety and Health in Care Services (NASHiCS) and the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) Business Safety Group produced additional guidance in January 2016 to assist on some specific issues, in order to ensure full understanding for all concerned.

Evacuation Strategy

In residential care premises, typical evacuation strategies are likely to involve one or more of the following arrangements:

Single stage evacuation – residents and others who fall predominately into the ‘independent’ category, where it may reasonably be expected that all people in the building are able to (and will) evacuate immediately from the premises to a place of total safety without assistance.

Progressive horizontal evacuation – residents tend to be dependent on staff to assist with their escape. It works on the principle of moving residents from an area affected by fire, through a fire resisting barrier to an adjoining fire protected area on the same level, where they can wait in a place of safety whilst the fire is dealt with, or await further evacuation down a protected route to total safety.

Delayed evacuation - exceptionally, in some situations it may not be desirable or practical to evacuate some residents immediately (e.g. because of medical conditions or treatments). In these circumstances, it may be appropriate to allow them to remain in their rooms whilst the fire is dealt with and the danger has passed, or to allow for the additional time necessary to prepare them for evacuation. In such circumstances, it will be necessary to provide enhanced levels of structural fire protection to the individual room(s). However, where this strategy has been adopted; a suitable evacuation plan will still be required.

You should not depend upon the fire and rescue service to evacuate people, your escape strategy must be dependent only on the factors that are within your control.

Evacuation time

The ability of staff to conduct an evacuation of each protected area within 2.5 minutes to a place of reasonable or total safety, of the alarm being raised is a starting point which to make an assessment. For evacuation to be effective, the following points should be addressed:

1. It is essential that there are sufficient numbers of staff available at all times to implement the emergency plan and that staff are trained to react promptly to the fire alarm in order to maximise the time available for evacuation. Should evacuation aids or equipment be provided, staff should be trained to deploy and utilise them as quickly and efficiently with as little distress to the resident as possible.

2. Consider accommodating residents who can make their own way to safety unaided on the upper levels, with people who have mobility impairment closer to the ground floor.

A simulated evacuation should be conducted for each protected area to assess whether the evacuation times achieved are reasonable. Longer evacuation times could be accepted, so long as every effort is made to reduce the time taken and the risk is mitigated by adjustment of other appropriate factors:

Reduced Compartment Size, Additional Staff, Accommodating less people in the protected area, Automatic Water Suppression Systems (this list is not exhaustive).