A Survey on the Fire Safety Aspects in the Residential Care Homes for the Elderly Persons in Hong Kong

摘要

As the population is ageing in Hong Kong, the elderly persons, especially those with cognitive impairment, physical disabilities and mild mental disorder, may require residential care services, like the Residential Care Homes for the Elderly Persons (RCHE). It is quite obvious that if fire occurs in those places, the elderly with low mobility or immobility but in their wheelchairs will need assistance from others for evacuation. Two surveys on the fire safety aspects in 29 RCHE were conducted from November 2003 to April 2004. The building nature, fire safety parameters, key parameters as in local codes and whether staff has fire safety management training were surveyed. It is found that about 50% of RCHE surveyed provides one staff for four elderly persons and about 24% provides one staff to 5 or 6 elderly persons. Even worse, not all the staff has been trained on fire safety management. It can be predicted there will be huge problems in assisting the elderly with physical impairment to evacuate in case of a fire or an emergency. Thus, it is recommended specific fire safety management strategies should be provided for each RCHE immediately and more in-depth studies should be done for long term planning.