A study for the Dutch Government by its Board of Care Sector Construction has assessed the level of fire safety in the care sector. It found that in many buildings fire safety was inadequate and that this was often known by the authorities. Dutch codes require passive fire protection but a previous report by the Dutch TNO laboratory recommended sprinklers as a cost-effective alternative, in particular to make existing buildings safe. That recommendation is supported in this latest report.

The report points out that in a care home the residents need help to escape from a fire and that a fire can reach fatal conditions within five minutes. It assumes that a smoke detector will produce an alarm within 1 minute and that within the next 2 minutes 2 people must be in the room of origin to give themselves 2 more minutes to evacuate those who need assistance. Many care homes do not have sufficient staff on duty at night to guarantee this level of response. The report recommends a sprinkler system as a more cost-effective solution than hiring more staff. It also suggests that sprinklers would be more cost-effective than retrofitting passive fire protection and recommends that the financial aspects of fitting sprinklers in care homes be studied further.

Across Scandinavia and in Scotland sprinklers are fitted in new care homes. In Finland and Norway sprinklers are also often retrofitted in existing care homes because they are the most cost-effective solution to achieve adequate fire safety.

European Fire Sprinkler Network