There are approximately 100 fires in healthcare premises the UK each year, which result in about 50 injuries and a small number of fatalities, reports BRE Global. Regardless of size, a hospital fire can cause a great deal of upset and could cost millions of pounds to put right. Hospitals are complex buildings in terms of fire safety measures cannot be based on immediate and total evacuation, as is practiced in most other buildings. Often patients with restricted mobility or who are bed bound cannot readily negotiate escape routes. For this reason, fire precautions designed to the NHS Firecode are intended to give early warning in the case of fire, minimise the area involved and allow any evacuation to be only initially as far as an adjacent 'safe' area. Prevention is almost certainly better than the cure so it is important that attention is paid to a hospital's fire safety procedures, and that regular fire safety checks are carried out.
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