Evacuation and intervention plans for healthcare

Hospitals, clinics, care centers and medico-social establishments fall under specific ERP classifications. Care facilities are classified ERP type U (articles U 1 to U 64 of the fire-safety regulation), while accommodation for the elderly and disabled (EHPAD, MAS, FAM nursing homes) falls under type J (articles J 1 to J 39). Both regimes impose reinforced requirements on compartmentalization, smoke control, category-A fire-safety systems (SSI) and evacuation plans.

Unlike other ERPs, hospital buildings prioritize horizontal evacuation through patient transfer: patients are not initially evacuated outside the building but transferred to a safe waiting area (ZMA) or fire-resistant compartment on the same level. The plan must clearly identify these areas, the fire-resistant doors and the transfer routes.

ISO 23601-compliant intervention plans are particularly important in healthcare establishments: the emergency services must be able to quickly locate fire-safety systems, utility shut-offs (medical gases, oxygen, electricity), operating theaters, ICUs and critical-care units.

In a healthcare establishment, total and immediate evacuation is neither realistic nor desirable: patients are bedridden, on medical equipment, sometimes in isolation or intensive care. The doctrine adopted by ERP type U and type J is horizontal evacuation: transfer to a fire-resistant adjacent compartment, then deferred evacuation if necessary.

The evacuation plan must therefore clearly represent fire-resistant compartments, fire doors (with their fire-resistance rating), safe waiting areas, airlocks, fire-fighter priority lifts and protected staircases. Care managers, technical agents and fire-safety teams must have dedicated, up-to-date plans.

For nursing homes and accommodation for dependent elderly people, the same logic applies with particular attention to Alzheimer units, sleeping accommodation and residents losing autonomy. A trained on-site fire-safety officer at night is mandatory in most of these establishments.

The intervention plan compliant with ISO 23601 is intended for firefighters and fire-rescue teams during an intervention. It must enable quick location of: manual call points, fire hose reels, dry and wet risers, smoke vents, medical-gas shut-offs, fire doors, operating theaters, ICUs, A&E, particular-risk premises (laundry, kitchen, boiler room, dangerous-product storage).

With Fabrik, you create the occupant evacuation plan and the intervention plan in the same tool, from the same floor plan. ISO 7010 pictograms aid immediate readability, and the print-ready PDF export allows A3 or A2 printing for the intervention board near the security desk.