Call for Hospital-Specific Fire Safety Norms in AP
The Union ministry of health has issued national guidelines on fire and life safety in healthcare facilities recently.
Vijayawada:Private hospitals have urged the Andhra Pradesh government to allow hospital-specific fire safety norms based on risk-assessment to ensure more compliance and safety to the patients and the health staff.
The Union ministry of health has issued national guidelines on fire and life safety in healthcare facilities recently. Though advisory in nature, they are intended to be adopted by the states/UTs to implement them in the healthcare facilities based on their size, occupancy, risk profile and local legal and regulatory requirements.
The guidelines mentioned about hospital administration, setting up fire safety committees, appointing fire safety officer, staff responsibilities, fire hazard assessment, categorisation of risk areas, fire safety plan, fire preventive measures, construction and design considerations for healthcare facilities, fire detection and alarm system, fire suppression system by fixing sprinkler systems, fire hydrant system and hose reels, potable fire extinguishers, smoke exhaust system, heating, ventilation and air conditioning integration, response to fire incident, fire command centre, fire fighting actions, evacuation, training, mock drills, fire safety audit etc.
The managements of the hospitals want the state government to allow every healthcare facility come up with a hospital specific-fire safety plan based on major factors like height of the building, bed strength, electric load based on usage of medical equipment like CT Scan, MRI, ventilators, usage of standard electric equipment, proper ventilation etc.
They allege that if the fire safety norms are more complex and some norms are impractical, they may lead to non-compliance and corruption which may in turn pose grave danger to the safety of the patients and the staff members.
Some hospitals complain that though Fire NOC is not needed in Telangana for buildings less than 15 meters (G+4), this is needed in AP for all healthcare facilities and with validity reduced from five years to one or two years depending upon the size of the hospital.
IMA-AP’s former president Dr C Srinivasa Raju said, “All the healthcare facilities must comply with fire safety norms for the safety of patients, health staff and others but the major norms should be hospital-specific based on fire risk factor so that there will be more compliance and safety is assured.”
Some hospitals turn critical on mounting pressure to comply with certain norms like setting up a second staircase and emergency exits saying that they should be applied to the new buildings and not for already existing buildings.
Fire additional director G Srinivasulu said, “We advise the healthcare facilities to comply with new guidelines on fire and life safety and also the newly notified National Building Construction Standards replacing the National Building Code for the safety of patients and health staff.”
- AP has nearly 20,000 healthcare establishments and of them, 3,000 are having less than 50 beds and 1,000 with more than 50 beds
- AP Fire Service authorities recommend several fire safety norms to IMA
- Entry/Exit doors shall be of one hour fire resistant type
- False ceiling suspenders shall be of non-combustible material
- Electrical wiring shall be of halon free, non-toxic, non-flammable
- Electrical circuit breaker to be provided at the main electric board
