Hospitals have potential fire hazards that set them apart from other places when it comes to fire protection. Here’s how to ensure that protection.
Patient safety and recovery must be the top priority of every hospital. Hospital administrators also need to protect their staff, other hospital employees, and the visitors who enter the building. Hospitals have potential fire hazards that set them apart from other places when it comes to fire protection. Here’s how to ensure that protection.
Areas of Concern
Whenever a fire starts in a hospital, it is important to begin an orderly evacuation process. However, evacuating vulnerable patients can be challenging, since they might not all be able to move on their own. Hospitals need to have fire protection systems that can detect and extinguish fires before they get out of control, which allows for even more time to conduct an evacuation.
During surgeries, the patient is especially vulnerable. Depending on the surgery being performed, the patient may not even be awake. Simple procedures won’t take long, but more complex operations could take hours, during which surgeons and nurses can’t be interrupted. Having the best possible fire protection measures in place can make sure that these surgeries can be completed on schedule.
Many hospitals are large enough to have their own labs for testing samples from patients to determine what condition they might have. As in other scientific settings, however, there could be chemicals or other flammable materials that can either potentially start a fire, or contribute to it growing larger. That is why the laboratories need to have their own fire suppression measures, especially where water-based methods will not work.
Although these areas must all be kept safe, the one place where fire protection matters most is in the kitchen. The reason for this is because fires are most likely to start in a hospital’s kitchen. The hood systems in the kitchen must be maintained and kept up to date and all fire extinguishers in the kitchen need to be fully charged at all times.
Ensuring Fire Protection
Many institutions rely on a combination of fire alarms, fire sprinklers, and extinguishers for fire protection. However, in a hospital, more protection is needed. This protection comes in the form of fire suppression systems that do not dispense water. Other types of fire protection systems for hospitals include special hazards fire protection – either clean agent fire suppression or water mist fire suppression, depending on which part of the hospital they are installed in, and what assets need to be protected.
Fire Protection Services from Fireline
Whether you need smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, or an automatic sprinkler system installed at your commercial property, Fireline has you covered. We have been protecting people and properties from fire damage since 1947—and our experience shows in our excellent work! We are known for our wonderful customer service, our expertise, and our reliability. For more information on how we can help your residential or commercial property, visit us online or give us a call at (800) 553-3405. We are located in Baltimore, MD, with a second office in Leesburg, VA. For more fire safety tips, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.