ANNUAL REVIEW master Final3a - St Vincent's University Hospital

St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group Limited - Annual Review 2007
General Services
Fire Safety
Fire safety in the hospital has been further enhanced with the appointment of Clive White as a dedicated
Fire Safety Coordinator. The function is responsible for overseeing the development of the fire safety
management system through conducting fire risk assessments, housekeeping audits, fire equipment
inspections and fire safety training.
The number of fire training sessions carried out in 2007 was:
General Fire Training – 20 sessions
Fire Marshal Training – 6 sessions
A major drive was initiated to help promote the importance of fire training and evacuation drills.
Improvements were made in the availability and quantity of training sessions to help minimise any disruption
to departmental resources. Additional drills were incorporated to facilitate the staff transfer to the new
ADCC building.
Fire evacuation sheet audits were conducted on all wards with the kind assistance of the Clinical Nurse
Managers.
The fire safety register was revamped with a “real-time” live register to allow for continuous works
improvements occurring throughout the hospital. A contract was awarded for the design and project
management of a new fire alarm system for the ward block area. This also encompassed the commissioning
of new fire detection systems in areas such as the Allied Therapy Suite. Systematic fire risk assessments
are being conducted to identify hazards and help improve fire prevention and control.
Further developments in fire safety included the development of a fire alarm incident procedure to help clarify
the roles and responsibilities of the key members of the fire team who respond to fire activations. The SOP
lists the action plan switchboard staff will immediately initiate on the report of a fire; the preliminary details
of the incident in which security will record; and the follow-up investigative report that the Fire Safety
Coordinator will pursue.
Weekly fire safety meetings are held and place a strong emphasis on improving and implementing fire safety
controls. One such initiative involved the reduction of nuisance fire activations by identifying their causes
and implementing strategies to help reduce or prevent re-occurrences. A complete ban on aerosols being
used within the hospital was agreed as one such measure of reducing nuisance activations.
Type of Activation 2007 2006
Real/Actual 9 13
Nuisance Activations 32 31
Totals 41 44
Return to Contents
276