PHE in care homes ADB

[Bruce89]

Does anyone out there have a view on the section in ADB indicating each protected area having 2 alternative protected areas to evacuate to, the diagram is a convenient layout which even in new build is often not the case.

[kurnal]

I agree the diagram is unhelpful, it illustrates the principle but no building could be set out like that with landlocked rooms with no windows. As I see it only the racecourse design round a courtyard is fully successful for both PHE and supporting service users with dementia. Most care homes end up with at least one wing in which a compromise has to be made at the head of a staircase with an additional cross corridor door and use of a room adjacent to the staircase to create a pseudo protected area.

[wee brian]

Its a nuisance but its critical to PHE

[Bruce89]

I'm dealing with an approved inspector who is arguing that a storey exit into a staircase enclosure can count as one of the 2 protected areas, clearly doesn't get PHE.

[kurnal]

The staff will only be able to move service users slowly to the protected area, unless the number of staff is very large or the number of service users in the protected are very small, the AIs proposal  brings the risk that service users may have to be left in the head of the staircase whilst staff assist others to escape. Vulnerable people at the head of the staircase are clearly at risk without such supervision. A door and a room set aside as a buffer zone are the minimum requirement in my opinion.

[Dinnertime Dave]

Staircases cost money without any financial return. I've seen many smaller homes with 2 zones of 4/5 beds in each and a staircase in each. It works in theory and suggest it works practically. Would anybody here ask for an additional staircase when they see it in the real world.

I worry more about lifts in corridors without lobby doors that link two zones. These often have 10-12 beds between them that may require evacuating.

[kurnal]

Probably misunderstood the question Dave but I don't see a need for additional staircases in the circumstances you describe, is not the main factor that persons can move horizontally away from the fire zone into an adjoining protected zone with further options for movement, preferably horizontally, from there. I see staircases as a necessary evil when the size and shape of the building precludes the options for further horizontal movement. Subject to capacity and layout  two should suffice in most buildings?

I share your concern over lifts. Specially those from Greece with a 200l reservoir of flammable hydraulic fluid in the bottom of the lift shaft and strict adherence to EN81 which means the doors have no fire resistance from the shaft side and have to descend to access level with doors open when the fire alarm sounds. Sorry for keepin on bangin the drum but nobody else  seems interested or concerned. EN81 is a disaster waiting to happen. I tried to get the installer to change the fluid to a fire retardant spec when I came across this the first time but they would not as "such a change would breach type approval regulations." (I voted in by the way)