Ski evacuation pads and sheets are useful pieces of equipment, but they are not a fire strategy by themselves. In a nursing home, hospital or residential care setting, they only work when they are matched to the resident, the building, the staffing level, the evacuation route and the training programme.

That distinction matters. A ski pad can reduce the need to lift a person during an emergency evacuation, but it does not remove the need for compartmentation, fire doors, staff training, PEEPs, drills, manual handling assessment or safe decision-making. Equipment is one part of the system.

This guide explains what ski evacuation pads are, where they fit in Irish healthcare fire safety, how they should be selected, how training should be approached, and what HIQA, Regulation 28 and manual handling duties mean in practice.

What Is a Ski Evacuation Pad

A ski evacuation pad is a low-friction evacuation aid used to move a person who cannot evacuate independently. Depending on the model, it may be used for movement from a bed, along a corridor, through a fire door, towards a place of relative safety, or as part of a more complex evacuation route.

The word ski is used because the underside of the equipment is designed to slide over floor surfaces more easily than a mattress, blanket or ordinary sheet. The aim is to reduce physical effort and avoid lifting where possible. That is important for resident safety and for staff manual handling risk.

Different products are described as ski sheets, ski pads, evacuation mats, sled pads or evacuation mattresses. The exact design, safe working load, handles, straps, padding, storage method and intended use depend on the manufacturer and model. Providers should not assume that all devices work in the same way.

Where They Fit in Progressive Horizontal Evacuation

Most nursing homes rely on progressive horizontal evacuation. The first priority is to move residents away from the room or area affected by fire or smoke into an adjoining protected compartment on the same level. This avoids starting with stair descent or full building evacuation.

Ski evacuation pads are mainly valuable because they support that first movement. They can help staff move a dependent resident from a bedroom or affected area to relative safety, provided the route is suitable and the staff member has been trained.

They should not be used to justify unrealistic evacuation assumptions. The two-and-a-half-minute figure sometimes discussed in nursing home evacuation should not be treated as a full building evacuation target. Chasing full evacuation in that time is not realistic and can be dangerous. Equipment should help achieve a safe evacuation plan, not disguise an unsafe one.

For more on that point, see our article on two and a half minutes to evacuation in a nursing home.

Regulation 28 and HIQA Expectations

Regulation 28 of S.I. 415/2013 requires registered providers to take adequate precautions against fire, provide suitable fire-fighting equipment and means of escape, maintain fire equipment and building services, train staff and make arrangements for evacuation and safe placement of residents where necessary.

HIQA's Fire Safety Handbook expects providers to develop, implement and sustain an effective fire safety programme. For evacuation equipment, the practical question is whether the centre can show that the equipment is suitable, available, maintained, understood and tested through realistic but safe drills.

An inspector is unlikely to be satisfied by equipment sitting in a store if staff cannot explain when and how it is used. The provider should be able to connect the equipment to the fire strategy, the compartment plan, resident PEEPs, staff training records, drill records and action plans.

Selection Starts With the Resident

Selection should start with the resident, not the catalogue. A Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan should identify whether the resident can walk independently, needs prompting, needs one staff member, needs two staff members, needs an evacuation sheet or pad, uses oxygen, has bariatric needs, becomes distressed, or needs equipment kept close to the bed.

A resident with good upper-body strength but poor walking tolerance may need a different approach from a resident who is bedbound, frail, confused or medically complex. A bariatric resident may need a specific evacuation mat, more staff and a different route. A resident in a lounge or dining room during the day may need equipment available outside the bedroom area.

The PEEP should also name the first place of relative safety. Moving a resident into a corridor is not enough if the corridor is not protected or if the receiving compartment cannot safely hold residents, staff, wheelchairs and evacuation equipment.

Selection Starts With the Building Too

The building matters as much as the resident. Floor surfaces, door widths, thresholds, corridor turns, ramps, staircases, bed height, room layout and the position of furniture all affect whether a ski pad can be used safely.

Equipment should be tested on the actual routes it may need to travel. A product that moves well on smooth vinyl may behave differently on carpet, a ramp or a tight turn. A doorway that is wide enough on paper may still be difficult if furniture, storage or bed position obstructs the approach.

This is why evacuation equipment should be part of the fire risk assessment and drill programme. If staff discover during practice that a pad catches at a threshold or cannot turn through a bedroom door, the issue should be corrected before an emergency.

Stairs need particular care. Progressive horizontal evacuation should normally move residents to a protected place on the same level first. Stair descent is a later stage and should only be relied on where the fire strategy, staffing, equipment and training support it. A centre should not assume that a device suitable for level movement is automatically suitable for stairs.

Ski Sheets, Pads and Mats

A ski sheet is usually a lighter evacuation aid associated with the bed or mattress arrangement. Its main advantage is speed of deployment where it is already in position and staff know the sequence. The exact method depends on the product.

A ski pad generally offers more structure or padding. It may be more suitable where additional protection is needed, but it may also be bulkier and require a different deployment technique. Providers should check the manufacturer's instructions and train staff on the specific model in use.

A ski mat or evacuation mattress may be used where a resident needs to be transferred onto a separate device. This can be useful in some settings, but it may add time and require more staff. It should not be selected without considering the resident's dependency and the staffing level likely to be available.

No device should be selected on the basis of marketing language alone. The provider should check safe working load, dimensions, handles, straps, cleaning instructions, storage requirements, intended use, limitations and compatibility with the building.

Bariatric and Complex Residents

Bariatric evacuation should be planned separately. The equipment must have an appropriate safe working load, but weight capacity is only one part of the issue. The route, door widths, turning space, bed position, number of staff, communication, privacy and receiving compartment all matter.

A bariatric plan should not be improvised during a fire alarm. It should be discussed in advance, recorded in the PEEP and practised safely with suitable training equipment. If the plan depends on six staff members but only three are on duty at night, the plan is not realistic.

Complex residents may also include people using oxygen, residents who become distressed, residents with fragile skin, residents at end of life, or people with medical equipment that cannot be moved casually. The evacuation equipment decision should involve care knowledge as well as fire safety knowledge.

Staffing and Safe Use

Some evacuation aids are designed so that one trained staff member may be able to move some residents on level ground. That should not be turned into a blanket rule. The number of staff required must be based on the resident, the route, the equipment, the surface and the circumstances.

A distressed resident, bariatric resident, complex medical need, awkward doorway, ramp or poor surface may require additional staff. If the route includes stairs, the staffing and training requirement changes again. The PEEP and evacuation plan should make this clear.

Staff safety is part of resident safety. If a carer is injured during an evacuation, the centre has lost capacity at the worst possible moment. Training should therefore cover posture, grip, communication, controlled movement, stopping if conditions become unsafe, and asking for help where needed.

Night staffing should be tested honestly. A device that works well when an instructor, manager and extra staff are present may not solve the problem at 3 am. The centre should know which staff on each shift can use the equipment, how quickly they can reach it, and whether they can move the first resident while the alarm is being investigated and the fire service is being called.

Training Must Be Practical

Evacuation equipment training cannot be only a classroom talk. Staff need supervised practice using the equipment, the straps, the handles, the bed arrangement and the routes they may have to use. They need to feel the resistance of the equipment and learn how to control movement.

Practical training should use rescue training manikins, not staff members as practice patients. Staff should not be placed on evacuation devices for training. It creates avoidable manual handling risk and does not properly reflect the weight, movement or body mechanics of many residents.

This is especially important for stair descent or complex manoeuvres. The first time a staff member controls a loaded evacuation device should not be during a real fire. Training should build familiarity before the emergency, while keeping participants safe.

Phoenix STS provides evacuation equipment training for nursing homes and healthcare settings, using practical instruction and rescue manikins.

Manual Handling and People Handling Duties

The HSA notes that manual handling injuries in health and social care arise from both people moving and handling and the manual handling of inanimate loads. It also states that employers must consider avoiding manual handling tasks where possible, assess work tasks involving manual handling, organise work to use mechanical equipment or other means, and provide instruction and training to relevant staff.

Evacuation equipment fits this logic. It can reduce the need for lifting, but it introduces a task that must itself be assessed. Pulling a loaded device through a corridor, turning it through a doorway or controlling it on a staircase is a manual handling task.

Staff who use ski pads should already understand people moving and handling principles. Evacuation equipment training should build on that foundation rather than replace it. For some residents, the safest option may involve a planned team approach rather than a single staff member.

Maintenance, Storage and Inspection

Evacuation equipment should be available when needed. It should not be locked away, hidden behind storage, missing from the bedroom, damaged, unlabelled or unfamiliar to staff. Storage arrangements should match the evacuation plan.

Inspection should include fabric condition, base surface, handles, stitching, straps, buckles, labels, contamination, cleaning damage and any sign that the device no longer performs as intended. The manufacturer's instructions should be followed for inspection, cleaning and replacement.

Records should show what equipment is present, where it is located, who inspected it, what defects were found, what action was taken and when the matter was closed. If equipment is removed for cleaning or repair, there should be a temporary arrangement.

Staff should be encouraged to report small defects. A frayed handle, stiff buckle, missing label or contaminated surface may look minor during a quiet shift, but it can matter during evacuation. Defects should be logged, risk assessed and closed out, not left for the next service visit by default.

Fire Drills and Safe Evacuation Time

A fire drill should test the evacuation strategy, not simply prove that staff can move quickly. The drill should consider the compartment tested, resident dependency, staff available, equipment used, route, receiving compartment and safe evacuation time.

Where a drill identifies delay, management should carry out root-cause analysis. The answer may be more training, but it may also be a blocked route, poor storage, unsuitable equipment, unclear roles, lack of staff, a PEEP that is out of date or a compartment that is too heavily loaded with high-dependency residents.

Equipment training and compartment fire drills are connected but different. Training teaches staff how to operate the device. Drills test whether the full evacuation arrangement works in the building with the staff and residents likely to be present.

Common Mistakes

The first mistake is buying equipment without a resident-by-resident assessment. The second is assuming one device suits every resident. The third is relying on a single staff member in the written procedure without testing whether that is safe for the actual resident and route.

Another mistake is failing to train night staff, agency staff or new starters. Night-time is often the hardest test of the strategy because fewer staff are available and residents are asleep. The evacuation equipment plan must work for that shift, not only during a well-staffed daytime drill.

A final mistake is treating equipment as a substitute for compartmentation. Ski pads help move people, but fire doors, walls, smoke seals, fire stopping, alarm systems and emergency lighting buy the time needed to move them. If those systems are weak, evacuation becomes harder and more dangerous.

What Good Records Should Show

The fire safety register should include an equipment inventory, resident evacuation needs, PEEPs, training records, drill reports, inspection records, maintenance actions and evidence that defects were closed. Records should be easy to use during inspection and useful to the manager responsible for fire safety.

A strong record links the device to the resident and the evacuation plan. It should be possible to see which residents need which equipment, where that equipment is kept, who is trained to use it, when it was inspected, and whether the drill programme has tested the arrangement.

How Phoenix STS Can Help

Phoenix STS supplies and supports ski evacuation equipment for Irish nursing homes, hospitals and residential care settings. We can advise on equipment selection, training, PEEP integration and realistic evacuation planning.

We also provide fire safety consultancy, nursing home fire risk assessments, Regulation 28 support and practical evacuation equipment training. For broader nursing home fire safety guidance, see our fire safety in nursing homes guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does every resident need a ski evacuation pad?

Not automatically. The need should be based on the resident's PEEP, mobility, dependency, bedroom location, evacuation route and staff assistance required. Some residents may need a different aid or approach.

Can one staff member use a ski pad?

Sometimes, but it should not be assumed. The number of staff needed depends on the resident, equipment, route, surface and conditions. Bariatric or complex residents may need a planned team approach.

Do staff need practical training?

Yes. Staff should practise with the specific equipment and routes they may use. Practical training should use rescue manikins rather than placing staff on evacuation devices.

How often should equipment be inspected?

Inspection frequency should follow the manufacturer's instructions and the centre's risk assessment. Equipment should also be checked after use, after training, after cleaning and whenever damage is suspected.

Contact Phoenix STS

For ski evacuation pads, evacuation equipment training or nursing home fire safety support, contact Phoenix STS on 043 334 9611 or use the Phoenix STS contact page.

This article is for general information only and is not legal, clinical or product-specific advice. Evacuation arrangements should be based on the resident profile, building layout, fire strategy, PEEPs, manufacturer's instructions and competent advice.