As a residential care premises, you will have vulnerable people sleeping on your premises, many of whom may require carer assistance.
A well-managed evacuation strategy is vital in ensuring that you keep your residents safe in the event of a fire occurring and having a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment is key in identifying any risks or hazards, allowing you to manage them effectively and therefore reduce the risk.
Fire Risk Assessment
If you employ five or more people, including any volunteers, you should keep a written record of your fire risk assessment and any significant findings. It should also be reviewed regularly, especially if any changes to the premises are made. This will identify what you need to do to reduce the risk of a fire and keep you and your employees and your residents and guests safe. You need to have an emergency plan for dealing with any fire situation, and it should be based on the outcome of your fire risk assessment. The purpose of an emergency plan is to ensure that people know what to do if there is a fire and that the premises can be evacuated safely. An evacuation drill should be carried out regularly to ensure your emergency plan works.
The guide below advises about completing a fire risk assessment. It is intended for non-domestic residential premises with sufficient staff in attendance at all times and where residents cannot make their way to a place of safety unaided. These could include:
- Residential and nursing homes
- Rehabilitation premises providing residential treatment and care for addiction
- Care homes and care homes with nursing (as defined by the Care Act 2014)
The Fire Risk Assessment Guide for Residential Care can be viewed below and contains further relevant information.
The pro formas here are intended to be used as guides for carrying out a fire risk assessment. Should you adopt one of these for your business premises, then it is important that the content captures any unique aspects of the premises' design, as well as how the building is actually used.
If you want more information on fire risk assessments, fire extinguishers and risk information boxes click here.
Other Guidance
For further guidance on your responsibilities as an employer, owner or landlord, please see:
