EVACUATION PLANS OF HOSPITALS IN SINGAPORE (CASE STUDY OF CHANGI GENERAL HOSPITAL)

Abstract

This dissertation summarized the approach and actions implemented by a 21st century hospital to manage the evacuation of patients in the event of a fire situation as well as keeping its compliance to rules set by SCDF. There is currently a lack of research on the robustness of evacuation plans of hospitals in Singapore since there have been practically no major fire incidents happening in the hospitals in Singapore. However, past literature and case studies have shown that a fire outbreak in a hospital can be extremely deadly due to the population demographics in a hospital. Evacuation plans are important to ensure the safest and most efficient evacuation time of all expected users of the hospitals. Even with evacuation plans in place, good pre-planning and preparedness are also crucial to ensure that the evacuation plans will be properly execute when required. The dissertation also briefly reviews the FSM's role as well as SCDF's effort in safeguarding the well being of the occupants of a hospital considering the challenges a hospital will face in an evacuation. At the same time, it summarizes the generic problems faced by the building management. This dissertation looks into the additional requirements a hospital needs to have in their evacuation plans as compared to other buildings. It takes into account the high percentage of occupants who are incapable of evacuating by themselves and also the need for continuity medical care. The case study of Changi General Hospital allows the author to study how a typical public hospital in Singapore plans its evacuation despite the lack of a detailed planning guideline from the SCDF. Interviews with both the FSM and SCDF had highlighted some major findings.. Major findings in this study includes  lack of decision model to aid FSM  over-reliance on duty nurse manager during evacuation  lack of a patient movement prioritization plan  suitability of assembly point  transfer of patients to other health-care facilities  conduct of fire evacuation drills  lack of training on manual handling of patients ii `  lack of guidelines for hospital evacuation planning  method of training FSM Through these findings, some measures and improvements have also been suggested to ensure that the evacuation plans of hospital to be more robust. Nevertheless, throughout the process of this dissertation, it is vital to note that fire evacuation in a hospital is complex. Therefore, though extremely important but the difficulty of good evacuation planning cannot be undermined.