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Tower Fire is a UK-based fire safety specialist delivering professional fire training, fire risk assessments, and safety solutions to businesses nationwide.

Healthcare: Fire Safety Services for Care Homes, Hospitals, and Healthcare Settings from Tower Fire

Tower Fire has extensive experience delivering specialist fire safety for care homes, hospitals, supported living facilities, and NHS buildings across the UK. Our healthcare clients include some of the country’s leading care providers, among them Hallmark Care, Barchester Care, Larchwood Care Homes, Leonard Cheshire Disability, Healthcare Management Solutions, and Valorum Care.

Fire safety in healthcare settings is fundamentally different from fire safety in a commercial office or warehouse. Non-ambulant residents, cognitively impaired occupants, complex evacuation strategies, and strict regulatory scrutiny demand a level of expertise and sector knowledge that only comes from real experience. Every Tower Fire service we deliver in the healthcare sector is carried out by an active or retired professional firefighter who understands these environments from the inside.

Healthcare: Fire Safety Services for Care Homes, Hospitals, and Healthcare Settings from Tower Fire

Why Fire Safety in Healthcare Settings Demands a Higher Level of Expertise

Care homes and healthcare buildings cannot rely on the same fire safety approach used in a standard commercial premises. The challenges are fundamentally different:

Non-ambulant and Cognitively Impaired Occupants
Residents may be unable to self-evacuate, placing the entire evacuation responsibility on trained staff who must work quickly and safely under high-pressure conditions.
Progressive Horizontal Evacuation
The standard evacuation strategy for care homes, where residents are moved horizontally into an adjacent fire-safe compartment on the same level rather than immediately evacuated outside. Government guidance recommends each zone or compartment should be capable of evacuation within two and a half minutes.
Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs)
Every resident who cannot evacuate independently must have an individual PEEP in place, reviewed regularly as their condition and mobility change over time.
Staffing Ratios
Care homes often operate with minimal staffing levels at night. The PHE strategy must work under worst-case staffing conditions, and evacuation training must reflect this.
Specialist Alerting Systems
Residents with hearing or visual impairments require specialist alerting devices such as vibrating pillow pads and visual strobes, not standard audible alarms alone.

Fire Safety Regulations for Care Homes and Healthcare Settings

Care home fire safety compliance is governed by a demanding and recently updated regulatory framework. Responsible persons must be aware of the following:

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety)
Order 2005

The responsible person must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, implement appropriate fire precautions, and ensure all staff are trained in emergency procedures. Failure can result in an unlimited fine and up to two years’ imprisonment.

BS 9991:2024

The updated British Standard for fire safety in residential buildings now explicitly includes residential care homes within its scope, strengthening requirements for fire safety design, management, and evacuation planning.

Building Regulations Approved Document B

(Amended March 2025)
Sprinkler systems are now required in all new care homes in England regardless of height or size, reflecting the Government’s response to identified gaps in fire protection for vulnerable residents.

CQC Inspections

The Care Quality Commission scrutinises fire safety arrangements during regulatory inspections under the ‘safe’ assessment domain. Adequate fire safety records, trained staff, and up-to-date PEEPs are all expected as standard.

Our Fire Safety Services For Healthcare Settings

Tower Fire provides the full range of services for fire safety compliance care homes and wider healthcare settings require, from initial risk assessment through to ongoing maintenance, training, and audit. Every service is tailored to the specific premises, its occupants, and its regulatory context.

Our Fire Safety Services For Healthcare Settings
Care home fire risk assessment: a care home fire risk assessment carried out by a qualified officer with direct fire service experience, covering the full scope of fire hazards, evacuation strategy, compartmentation, staff training arrangements, and PEEP provision.
Progressive horizontal evacuation planning and training: designing, documenting, and training staff in PHE procedures tailored to the specific layout and staffing levels of the premises, including worst-case night-time staffing scenarios.
PEEP development and review: supporting managers in preparing and maintaining accurate, up-to-date personal emergency evacuation plans for every resident who requires assistance to evacuate.
Fire warden training: bespoke training for care home staff covering evacuation aids, bed evacuation techniques, managing confused or resistant residents, and assisting the fire service on arrival.
Fire compartmentation surveys: verifying that fire barriers, fire doors, and stopping measures are intact and capable of supporting the PHE strategy under the conditions present in the building.
Fire strategy: bespoke fire strategies for new care home builds and major refurbishments, compliant with Approved Document B and BS 9991:2024.
Fire safety policy development and independent audit: helping managers develop compliant fire safety policies and providing independent audits to verify arrangements are fit for purpose and CQC-ready.

Trusted by Leading Healthcare and Care Home Providers

Tower Fire’s experience in the healthcare sector is extensive and long-standing. Our clients include Hallmark Care, Barchester Care, Larchwood Care Homes, Leonard Cheshire Disability, Healthcare Management Solutions, and Valorum Care. These are organisations that demand a consistently high standard of fire safety delivery across large and complex care environments.

We work across all healthcare setting types: residential care homes, nursing homes, dementia care facilities, supported living, NHS hospitals, and community healthcare buildings. The risks and requirements differ across these environments, and our service reflects those differences.

Why Choose Tower Fire for Evacuation Training?

Why Choose Tower Fire for Healthcare Fire Safety?

Every Tower Fire service we provide in the healthcare sector is delivered by an active or retired professional firefighter. We have managed real emergencies in real buildings, including the kinds of high-dependency environments where a standard approach to fire safety for care homes simply does not work. Our care home fire safety track record speaks for itself: trusted by some of the UK’s largest and most demanding care providers.
  • Deep sector experience across residential care, nursing, dementia, supported living, and NHS settings
  • Fully current on BS 9991:2024 and the 2025 Building Regulations changes for new care home builds
  • Specialist capability in progressive horizontal evacuation design, training, and validation
  • Trusted by some of the UK’s largest care home groups
  • Bespoke approach: no template documents, every service built around the specific premises and its residents
FIRE SAFETY FAQ
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FIRE SAFETY FAQ

Progressive horizontal evacuation (PHE) is the standard approach. Residents are moved horizontally into an adjacent fire-safe compartment on the same floor rather than immediately evacuated outside. Government guidance recommends each zone should be capable of evacuation within two and a half minutes.

From 2 March 2025, Building Regulations Approved Document B requires sprinkler systems in all new care homes in England regardless of height or size. Existing care homes are not automatically required to retrofit sprinklers, but the risk assessment may recommend them.

A Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan is an individual document setting out how a specific resident will be evacuated, what equipment is needed, and who is responsible. Every resident who cannot evacuate independently must have one, and it must be reviewed regularly as their needs change.

Whether you need a specialist care home fire risk assessment, progressive horizontal evacuation training, a fire safety audit, or a complete review of your fire safety for care homes arrangements, Tower Fire delivers. Our team serves care homes, hospitals, supported living providers, and NHS organisations across the United Kingdom. To discuss your requirements, call 0845 51 91 883 or complete our online enquiry form.