Fire Safety Standards
 24. (1) In this section, “fire resistance rating” means the rating assigned to any element or assembly of materials of construction as published by The National Research Council of Canada, The Underwriter’s Laboratories of Canada, the Joint Fire Research Organization, United Kingdom, The Underwriters’ Laboratories Inc. or the Factory Mutual Engineering Division.  R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 636, s. 24 (1). (2) The administrator of a home for special care shall comply with the following additional fire safety requirements, according to the class of occupancy of the home for special care: 1.  Home for special care, Class I, four or less residents, excluding family and staff. i.  Reasonable fire safety precautions shall be adhered to. ii.  Good housekeeping shall be practised. iii.  Proper heating unit maintenance shall be observed. iv.  Precautions shall be taken for residents who smoke. 2.  Home for special care, Class II, five to seven residents, excluding family and staff. i.  Two separate means of egress, remote from each other, shall be provided for every floor or section of the building. ii.  Where there is no interior secondary stairwell provided as an exit, an exterior fire escape connecting all floors and leading directly to grade level shall be provided. iii.  All stairways shall be enclosed by a fire resistant partition having a fire resistance rating of three-quarters of an hour and self-closing door. iv.  The ceiling or open joists over the furnace shall be covered with fire resistant material having a fire resistance rating of thirty minutes, to an area of sixty centimetres beyond the perimeter of the furnace and the area above the smoke pipe shall be covered in its entirety. v.  Revoked:  O. Reg. 651/00, s. 7. 3.  Home for special care, Class III, eight or more residents, excluding family and staff. i.  Two separate means of egress, remote from each other, shall be provided for every floor or section of the building. ii.  An exterior fire escape connecting all floors and leading directly to grade level shall be provided where no interior secondary stairwell is provided as an exit. iii.  All stairways shall be enclosed by a fire resistant partition having a fire resistance rating of three-quarters of an hour and self-closing door. iv.  The furnace or boiler room shall be separated from the remainder of the building by construction having a fire resistance rating of at least one hour. v.  All combustible ceilings, including exposed wood and joists, shall be fully covered with fire resistant material having a fire resistance rating of at least one hour. vi.  The furnace room door and inside door jamb shall be metal-clad and the door shall be equipped with a self-closing device. vii.  Provision shall be made to provide sufficient air for proper combustion in the boiler or furnace rooms. viii.  Revoked:  O. Reg. 651/00, s. 7. ix.  All vertical shafts, dumb waiters, laundry chutes, rubbish chute and every other shaft shall be enclosed with material having a fire resistance rating of not less than forty-five minutes and shall be equipped with self-closing doors at all floors, including the basement, incorporating a degree of fire resistance equivalent to the shaft. x.  There shall be an electric fire alarm system in the building. xi.  Every fire alarm system shall be a closed circuit electrically supervised system, components of which have been tested and listed by the Underwriters’ Laboratories of Canada or the Canadian Standards Association Testing Laboratories. xii.  A fire alarm station shall be installed on every floor in the building. xiii.  Heat actuated detectors shall be installed according to the manufacturer’s listing in all areas in the building, except corridors and washrooms. xiv.  The fire alarm sounding device shall have a sound that is readily distinguishable from the sound produced by any other sounding device used in the building. xv.  Every fire alarm system shall be provided with two independent sources of power, and where batteries are used as a secondary source of power, the batteries shall be rechargeable by means of a trickle charger connected to the hydroelectric power supply. xvi.  Power for the fire alarm system shall be taken directly from the line side of the service after transformation and no power for the system shall be taken from secondary distribution panels or lighting panels. xvii.  The fire alarm electrical supply system shall be equipped with separate circuit breakers or fused switches that serve only the fire alarm system. xviii.  Every fire alarm panel shall be equipped with a glowing light that ceases to glow when the system is shut off and the panel shall be conspicuously marked to indicate that the system is inactive when the light is not glowing.  R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 636, s. 24 (2); O. Reg. 651/00, s. 7. General