How safe are our hospitals? And how do we know whether or not they’re safe?
I have learned that in late March Valley Regional Hospital didn’t pass the Fire Marshall’s inspection. The infractions weren’t serious enough for the Fire Marshall’s Office to order the hospital vacated until it was brought up to code.
A representative of the Fire Marshall’s office wrote, “When the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) identifies fire and life safety deficiencies, it will order corrective action that requires additional fire safety measures be implemented and, if deemed necessary, have a building vacated until it is deemed safe.”
“The OFM identified concerns with the fire protection equipment and ordered (on April 25) additional fire safety measures be taken to provide staff and occupants with adequate fire safety protection. The concerns have since been addressed and the order for additional measures lifted (as of May 2). The OFM continues to work with the Valley Regional Hospital to ensure staff and occupants continue to be provided with adequate fire safety equipment.”
Since Valley Regional is one of the province’s newer hospitals, (approximately 20 years) we have to wonder about some of our older facilities.
My other concern is about informing the public when a facility, like a hospital, fails to meet fire codes. This is a serious safety issue. Hospitals house the least well members of society, people who often are weakened and could be mobility challenged, whether by short-term or long-term illness, people whose decisions and abilities may be impaired by medication. I question if we shouldn’t have a higher standard for reporting ANY failure by health authorities to meet fire codes.
While the hospital in question rectified the situation, how do we know this isn’t a continuing situation? How do we know organizations learn from their mistakes? We have traditionally placed a lot of faith in hospitals, health authorities and the health system to always do what is right. But the closer we look, the greater the number of times we learn of their lapses in building maintenance, infection control, human resources and fiscal management, waiting times and so forth. Now it’s fire safety.
We should know that the faith and trust placed in our hospitals is justified. Hospitals have multiple chemicals, gasses, compressed air and lines delivering pure oxygen to patient rooms, which could easily fuel a fire, burn and explode, as well as supply rooms filled with linens that provide another source of highly combustible elements.
Through my communications with the Office of the Fire Marshall I have learned that under the present practice when a public facility, like a hospital, fails to meet the safety standards the local board is informed and given a deadline to rectify the situation. At present this is done privately. We have no idea how often hospitals fail to meet the safety requirements set by the Fire Marshall’s Office. Nor do we know how widespread this is in the province. Could it be that facility-after-facility have similar failures? Perhaps a public spotlight on these could provide lessons for others?
There doesn’t seem to be any requirement, procedure or practice for the local health authority or the Fire Marshall’s Office to inform the Department of Health and Wellness or Minister responsible. It seems that once again failure is sheltered from the public.
Since the public doesn’t know, are staff informed? Are unions representing these workers informed that their members are daily being sent into a workplace which fails to meet safety requirements? Are patients and patient families informed? And why isn’t the Minister and/or his department informed?
God forbid, but if something happened, like the January nursing home fire in L’Isle Verte, Quebec, no one would believe the Minister wasn’t informed about the fire safety issue.
Without the public spotlight on such failings, nothing changes. We just live (hopefully) with the same old, same old.
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