Nursing Home Fire Drills are an integral part of all fire safety programs and are a legal requirement for any centre. Based on the findings detailed in the Nursing Home’s Fire Risk Assessment. Nursing Home Fire Drill Procedures should be accurately defined, citing escape routes, places of temporary safety, fire exits and internal/external assembly points.

The Nursing Home Fire Drill Procedures program is for frontline staff who have a crucial role to play, as they are often the first people responding to an emergency. The safe evacuation of a person is dependent on the knowledge, skill, and ability of the staff conducting their evacuation. When a fire occurs, the evacuation of residents is the responsibility of staff and not the Fire and Rescue Service, which is to tackle the fire and rescue residents only if the predefined evacuation strategy has failed. The requirements to manage evacuation are set out in the Fire Services Act 1981 as amended 2003

The best way to ensure the Nursing Home Fire Drill Procedure is effective is by performing regular fire drills to test and finetune the process. This will allow frontline staff to pay attention to the performance of alarms, the suitability of escape routes, access to assembly points and any other factors that may impact the success of an evacuation in the event of a real fire.

The Nursing Home Fire Drill Procedures program is 100% practical and designed for all care staff. It provides them with the necessary knowledge and skill to operate evacuation aids such as Ski Evacuation Sheets and Ski Pads. Having the ability to evacuate residents is essential to demonstrate compliance with Regulation 28 Fire Safety (HIQA) and the guidance contained within “Fire Safety Handbook a Guide for Providers and Staff of Designated Centres“, published by HIQA in January 2021.

Each learner will get practical experience using evacuation aids in a controlled environment. All training is conducted using our equipment; this ensures that your equipment is not damaged and is readily available for use if required in an emergency. A rescue training mannequin is used to simulate evacuation conditions. Staff should never be put on an evacuation device for training.

The Nursing Home Fire Drill Procedures program is designed to be delivered over a full day or half-day; the full-day program can train up to 30 staff each training session lasting 45 minutes for a maximum of 10 learners practising with one evacuation aid. At the end of the training module, learners are assessed completing timed fire drills to demonstrate compliance with Regulation 28 Fire Safety (HIQA).

All occupants don’t need to perform a complete evacuation of the premises during a drill. Those who may be exempt include those that cannot be moved for health reasons, those who are required to remain with residents, those charged with operating equipment or processes that cannot be stopped, even temporarily.

Depending on the passive fire resistance in place within the building, it may be possible for vulnerable residents to be moved to nearby areas of the premises that will remain unaffected by fire for a minimum of 30 minutes, allowing fire and rescue services to extinguish the blaze. If the correct facilities are in place, this can be implemented into the nursing home fire drill procedures.

Phoenix STS is the only company authorised in Ireland to provide train-the-trainer courses on the full range of “Ski” evacuation products and the Elite Emergency Evacuation Chair.

Course Aims

• To provide training to learners in the safe use of evacuation aids
• To ensure learners can utilise evacuation aids efficiently
• For staff to have the ability to evacuate residents safely in the event of an emergency
• Complete fire drills

Course Objective

• To provide learners with the correct technique and procedure to safely and effectively evacuate a person with limited mobility to a place of safety using various evacuation aids
• To reduce the risk of injury to staff and residents
• Complete time to fire drills
• To comply with the requirements of Regulation 28 Fire Safety (HIQA)

Who Should Attended This Course?

All care staff responsible for assisting a resident in evacuating the Nursing Home as part of the resident personal emergency evacuation plan (PEEP)

Pre-Course Requirements

• English is the language in which training is delivered, and learners must have fluency in English
• Learners should wear appropriate clothing for an interactive and practical course
• Please inform the Instructor of any medical condition that you may have if you feel relevant to the training and, in particular, the practical work
• Staff must be trained on People Moving & Handling to practice operating evacuation aids
• The centre is required to provide suitable training areas in line with government guidelines on the management of covid-19
• The centre will be required to supply equipment on-site for this training, profiling bed, including bed linen
• Please let us know if learners have any specific learner requirements

Course Programme

• Introduction, description and limitations of on-site evacuation aids
• Safety considerations
• Method of use
• Safety requirements before, during and after use
• Practical use of evacuation aids
• Timed fire drills

Our Tutors

Our tutors are well experienced in providing fire safety information within a healthcare setting. They will outline the staff’s duties and roles in preventing fire and what actions are necessary to respond to a fire within a nursing home. All our tutors hold a minimum;

• Minimal QQI Level 7 in their subject matter or higher
• Train-the-Trainer QQI Level 6 or higher
• People Moving Instructor Qualified
• Evacuation Aid Instructor Qualified
• Infection Control and Safeguarding Adults Qualified

Training Methods

• Demonstration and practice with evacuation aids
• The section of the course the deals with the demonstration and practice of evacuation aids requires a suitable training area in line with government guidelines on the management of covid-19

Assessment

Learners will be required to safely remove our training mannequin to a place of safety utilising an evacuation aid and completing timed fire drills

Certification

• Upon successfully completing the Evacuation Aid Training Course, learners will receive a Phoenix STS Training certificate
• The certificate will be valid for one (1) year
• Please note as Nursing Home Fire Drill Procedure training is non-transferable, this certificate is relevant to the centre in which the training was provided only. The Designated Centres will receive a fire drill report for each fire drill completed

Maximum Number of Learners

As the Evacuation Aid Training Course is predominantly skill-based, it is limited to 10 learners per training session with 3 to 4 participants for each fire drill

Duration

• 2 x 1.5-hours (Half-day)
• 3 x 1.5-hours(Full-day)

This allows adequate time for practice and demonstration with the skills modules of the course and fire drills