1. When A Drill Is Not A Drill: Fire Drills That Keep Your Fire Marshal Happy Randy Benson, Executive Director Rural Healthcare Quality Network

2.  Fire Drill Basics Fire Drills Conducted To Test Employee Fire Safety Responses  Presence of Fire (Object or Card)  R – A – C – E  Rescue  Pull Alarm  Confine (Protect in Place)  Evacuate/Extinguish Timed Response One Per Shift Per Quarter

3.  Why, When, How?  Why? NFPA 2000 Fire Safety Standards  Facility Response to Detection of Fire or Smoke  Employee Response to Presence of Fire  Employee Ability to Protect Others From Fire  Employee Ability to Fight Fire Appropriately  Employee Ability to Respond in Appropriate Time Frames

4.  When? NFPA Standard: One Drill Per Shift Per Quarter Actual Fire Alarms Do Not Count As Drills (unless specific criteria are met) Don’t Forget Weekends Remedial Drills

5.  How? Where to Conduct Drill Fire Object or Card Observation of Response Timed Questioned About Response Process Pull Fire Alarm Evacuation Use of Fire Extinguisher

6. Process  Which Department to Test  How Best to Test? Time of Day Kind of Department (e.g. Nursing Unit, Medical Records, Food Services/Kitchen)  Use Object or Card  Timed  Knowledge of Response Process R – A – C – E  Success or Failure

7.  Fire Drill Do’s and Don'ts Conduct Fire Drills In All Work Areas  At Least Once Every Three Years, Or Less Department-Specific Fire Safety Training  Location of Fire Alarms  Location of Fire Extinguishers  Location of Medical Gas Shut Off Valves (If Present)  Two Fire Evacuation Routes From Work Area Question: What Would You Do If You Found a Fire?

8.  Fire Drill Do’s and Don'ts (cont) All Fire Drills Must Be Timed  Flash Over  Get Process Right, Get Timing Wrong All Fire Drills Must Be Evaluated  By Fire Marshal (Engineer/Maintenance) At Site of Drill  By All Managers In Their Work Areas All Failed Drills Must Be Retested

9.  Fire Drill Evaluation Site of Fire Drill (by Fire Marshal Conducting Drill)  Was the Initial Staff Response Appropriate?  Did Staff Pull the Fire Alarm (if required)?  Did Staff Evacuate Everyone From the Immediate Area of the Fire Object (if needed)?  Did Staff Close All Fire Doors?  Was the Response Time for ‘Finding the Fire Object to Pulling the Alarm’ Acceptable (must be 3 minutes or less)

10.  Fire Drill Evaluation, Site of Drill (cont.) Did Staff Retrieve a Fire Extinguisher? Did Staff Know How to Evacuate Patients? Every Work Area (Done by Managers)  Could Fire alarm Be Heard?  Could Overhead Page Be Heard?  Did Work Area Staff Know What to Do?  Did Fire Doors Close Appropriately?  Other Work Are Specific Issues of Note?

11.  How Do You Fail A Fire Drill? Take More Than 3 Minutes From When the Fire Object Is Found Until the Fire Alarm Is Pulled Failure to Know R – A – C – E Failure to Know Location of Fire Alarm in Work Area Failure to Know Location of Fire Extinguisher in Work Area Failure to Know How to Use the Fire Extinguisher (P – A – S – S)

12.  How Do You Fail A Fire Drill? (cont.) Failure to Know How to Evacuate the Work Area  PATIENT CARE AREAS MUST HAVE PERIODIC PATIENT EVACUATION DRILLS Fire Alarms Do Not Function Employees Fail to Close Fire Doors Employees Ignore Fire Object or Card (I’m Too Busy)

13.  What To Do About A Failed Fire Drill? Facility Fire Safety Policies Must Spell Out:  What Constitutes a Fire Drill Failure,  Consequences of Fire Drill Failure,  Timeframe for Retest After Failure Remedial Education For Work Area That Failed The Drill Retest Within Timeframe Identified By Policy (usually 7-10 working days from failed drill)

14.  Fire Safety Citations (Fire Marshal & DOH) Drill Does Not Comply With Standards Not Enough Drills (Shifts Per Quarter, etc.) Not Evaluated Lack of Knowledge of Evacuation Process Fire Detection System Failure

15. QUESTIONS?

16. Randy Benson Executive Director Rural Healthcare Quality Network randyb@wsha.org 206 577-1821