Fire Prevention Maintenance and Safety
41. (1) Every administrator of a nursing home shall, (a) establish, in writing, a procedure to be followed in the event of a fire in the nursing home in order to provide for, (i) the protection of all persons in the nursing home, and (ii) the evacuation of all persons from the nursing home to areas of refuge; (b) instruct the staff of the nursing home in the procedure established under clause (a); (c) ensure that the staff of the nursing home are properly trained in methods of moving and carrying residents in an emergency; (d) instruct or cause instruction to be given to the staff of the nursing home in, (i) the method of sounding the fire alarm, and (ii) the proper use of the fire extinguishing equipment, in the nursing home; (e) ensure that the procedure established in clause (a) is practised in a fire drill that is commenced with a fire alarm at least once each month; (f) arrange the times that fire drills are held so that each shift of staff will practise the procedure established in clause (a); (g) ensure that a written record of the date and time of each drill is maintained at the nursing home and is available to an inspector; (h) cause the fire alarm system to be thoroughly inspected and tested by qualified fire alarm maintenance personnel once every twelve months; (i) cause the sprinkler system to be thoroughly inspected and tested once every twelve months by a person qualified to service sprinklers; (j) where an inspection is carried out under clause (h) or (i), submit to the Director a certificate in Form 4, completed and signed by the person who conducted the inspection within one week after the inspection certifying that the system has been tested and inspected; (k) ensure that at least once each year the heating equipment is serviced by qualified personnel and that the chimneys are inspected and, if considered necessary in the opinion of the person doing the inspection, are cleaned; (l) have the fire alarm system, the sprinkler system, fire extinguishers, hoses and standpipes visually inspected at least once a month by the maintenance staff of the nursing home; (m) keep written records of inspections and tests of the fire alarm system, the sprinkler system, fire extinguishers, hoses and standpipes and heating equipment, and ensure that these records are available to the inspector; (n) have an inspection of the building made each night to ensure that there is no danger of fire; (o) ensure that all doors to stairwells and all fire doors are kept closed; (p) ensure that the nursing home is kept clean and free from combustible rubbish; (q) ensure that exits are clear and unobstructed at all times; (r) have combustible draperies, curtains, decorations and similar materials suitably treated to render them resistant to the spread of flame and have them retreated when necessary; (s) ensure that receptacles into which electrical irons are plugged are equipped with pilot lights that glow when an appliance is plugged in; (t) ensure that lint traps in laundry equipment are cleaned out after each use; (u) ensure that flammable liquids used in the nursing home are stored in suitable containers in non-combustible cabinets; (v) develop written policies and rules to govern tobacco smoking, including a rule that smoking is prohibited in bedrooms except where supervision is provided in the bedroom by a member of the nursing home staff; (w) ensure that large non-combustible ashtrays are provided in each area where tobacco smoking is permitted; (x) ensure that fire alarm heat detectors and sprinkler heads are not covered with paint or any other material that is likely to prevent their proper operation. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 832, s. 41 (1); O. Reg. 373/94, s. 8. (2) Where there is a defect or malfunction in the fire alarm system, the sprinkler system, fire extinguishers, hoses or standpipes, such defect or malfunction shall be reported to the Director, by telephone, immediately upon discovery of the defect or malfunction, and the administrator shall advise the Director as to the safety precautions that are intended to be taken in the nursing home to deal with the defect or malfunction. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 832, s. 41 (2).