JAUE2020-093: Evacuation safety assessment in the event of a fire in a long-term care hospital

Abstract

This study derived and evaluated ASET and RSET using fire and evacuation simulations to assess evacuation safety of Long-term care hospital. At this time, the results showed that the available safety egress (ASET) time was 440 s and the required safety egress time (RSET) was 580 s, indicating that a safe evacuation of the target building was not achieved. A bottleneck was identified during the evacuation, and the installation of external staircases and ramps as well as a change in patient placement were proposed as improvement measures for a smooth evacuation of patients with reduced mobility. With the installation of an external staircase and ramp [Alt-1], the RSET was 423 s and with a change in patient placement and the installation of an external staircase [Alt-2], the RSET was 396 s. Meanwhile, with a change in patient placement and ramp installation [Alt-3], the RSET result was 505 s, indicating that the target building secured the evacuation safety.