- Author
-
Hallberg, G.
- Title
- Brandkontroll och personskydd i vardbostader. [Fire Control of Evacuation of Handicapped Persons.]
- Coporate
- Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
- Report
-
Rapport R5:1993; TRITA-BFL-1005:1993; ISRN KTH/BFL/R-93/1005-SE
1993
44 p.
- Keywords
-
handicapped
|
evacuation
|
fire suppression
|
health care facilities
|
occupants
|
safety
|
housing
- Abstract
- ONLY ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH During the 80's in Sweden, a great deal of attention has been paid to the fire safety problem in buildings where housing and care are combined. Such residential care premises are here called Care Housing. By the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning they are called Alternative Housing. Examples of such housing are blocks of service flats for elderly people, home for nursing and housing, group-residential buildings for mentally retarded or disordered, suffering from senile dementia. The introduction of the building category Alternative Housing is an application of research results. The evacuation capacity of the residents in service flats has been investigated previously (1989) and a proposal of adequate safety measures in buildings where care and housing are combined has been presented. In this survey the evacuation capability of residents in group-residential units and old peoples' homes has been investigated as well, by means of a rating system developed for residents in service flats. The aim of the study is to prove the ability of the safety measures proposed to provide a satisfactory safety level in different types of care housing besides blocks of service flats. By defining the residents evacuation capability and the need for assistance in an emergency situation we are able to establish the equivalence of the proposals for the Swedish Building Standards of 1994. The study has the same design as the service flats investigation; an inquiry among a representive sample of care housing. The worksheet for rating evacuation disabilities aims to illustrate the following risk factors; mobility, pace of movements, lack of respons to alarm, risk of resistance and orientation difficulties. The rating was made by a member of the facility staff who knows each resident best. The results of the rating, residents' evacuation capability, is presented in three ways; - the percentage distribution of risk factors in service flats, homes for old people and group-residential units, - the percentage distribution of the need for assistance from staff during an evacuation and the reason for necessery assistance, - the average staff needed per resident in an emergency situation in each type of care housing studied. Safety measures aim to protect people by safe means of escape and provision for rescue. They also aim to control fire by early detection and prevention of fire spread. Both protection of people and fire control must be provided. The findings of the study indicate that similar safety measures are required in all three types of care housing studied. However, the reasons for them may differ. The need for assistance during the evacuation is approximately equal in multistorey buildings. When horizontal evacuation is available the need for assistance will be significantly smaller in blocks of service flats, but will decrease only to some extent in the other two types of care housing. In one-storeyed homes for old people almost half the number of residents would need no assistance or only 'a helping hand' in case of an evacuation. In group-residential units, however, almost nobody of the residents would be able to manage on his or her own in case of emergency, depending on orientation difficulties and risk of resistance. The latest proposal of building standards from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, the BBR-94, will meet the requirements for safety measures quite well. However, a change in the designation of the object category from alternative housing to care housing is worth to be discussed. A great part of the safety proposals presented in the report "Planning for fire safety in care housing" (Report R4:90, BFL, KTH) has been taken up in the BBR-94. That means that the safety level in care housing will improve considerably if those proposals would pass.