The fire safety strategy in hospitals is complex, and requires an integrated approach, because of the presence of vulnerable and reliant patients who need assistance during evacuation. The current regulations in the Netherlands seems to be outdated, and don’t fulfill the current use and the changing design trends. The design trends of hospitals are changing, shifting towards a healing environment with mostly single patient rooms.
Research into the actual disconnecting times of different types of patients is performed, to determine the total evacuation time per patient. As displayed different phases of the evacuation route are gathered and analysed. With these differing evacuation times, the design can be adapted to the required egress time per specific ward. The evacuation times of patients on a Dialysis, Intensive Care, Neonatal ICU, Heart monitoring, Recovery and a standard nursing ward have been gathered.
With an interactive design tool, the actual risk and Required Safe Egress Time calculations can be made. A relative probability calculation indicates the risk of casualties per ward, compared with a design fulfilling the maximum restrictions of the Dutch Building Decree. Together with the gathered data, specific RSET calculations can be made for different types of wards.