WAJD Learning

Statutory and mandatory training · All health and social care staff

Fire safety in care settings

Why a care home does not evacuate the way an office does, and what you actually do at three in the morning.

  • 2modules
  • 2.0CPD hours
  • 85guided minutes
  • Freealways

Start module 1 Create a free account to save progress

About this course

Fire safety training in most workplaces teaches you to get out. In a care setting that advice can kill people, because you cannot walk forty frail residents down a staircase in four minutes.

Care settings use progressive horizontal evacuation: moving people through fire doors into the adjacent fire compartment, which is built to hold back fire and smoke for long enough. Understanding that changes how you see every wedged door in the building.

This course covers the law, the fire triangle, evacuation strategy, personal emergency evacuation plans, extinguisher types, and the specific fire risks of care: emollient creams, smoking, oxygen, and charging equipment.

What you will be able to do

  • Explain duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
  • Describe progressive horizontal evacuation and why care settings use it
  • Explain what a personal emergency evacuation plan must contain
  • Identify the fire risks specific to care, including emollient creams and oxygen

Modules

  1. 1 Fire strategy, evacuation and the risks unique to care 45 min study · 4 min script · 4 question knowledge check
  2. 2 Your role in the first two minutes 40 min study · 3 min script · 4 question knowledge check

Assessment and certificate

Knowledge check at 80 per cent with unlimited attempts.

A free digital certificate showing 1 CPD hour with a verification code. Practical extinguisher use and evacuation drills must be done on site.

Questions

Do we evacuate the building in a care home fire?

Usually not immediately. Care settings normally use progressive horizontal evacuation, moving people into the next fire compartment through fire doors. Full evacuation is a later stage. Your service's fire strategy tells you which applies where you work.

Are emollient creams really a fire risk?

Yes, and it is a serious and under recognised one. Both paraffin based and paraffin free emollients soak into clothing and bedding and make them burn far more readily. There have been deaths. People using emollients must be warned to keep away from naked flames and cigarettes, and fabrics must be washed at a high temperature, which still does not fully remove residue.