Introduction: Fire Safety Certificate for Your Hospital/Nursing Home

Hey Corpseed readers, today we are going to talk about which and what type of fire safety certificates you need for your nursing homes and hospitals. We will also talk about the procedures through which you could get these fire safety certificates. We all know that fire safety is so important for every establishment and especially for medical facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes. There are many patients in the hospital who are admitted in serious and critical condition and so many of them have some mobility issues and they are not able to move anywhere by themselves. This type of patient could face danger in an emergency situation. Hospitals and nursing homes can reduce the risk of any kind of accident by following fire standards and ensuring fire safety.  Usually, Hospitals and nursing homes have a lot of combustible items such as chemicals, Cylinders, Surgical Equipment, etc. Almost every hospital has a Kitchen or Canteen inside the hospital premises. A Fire Accident may become the reason for so many casualties as the Fire may become uncontrollable in minutes so every hospital management should ensure that their hospital premises follow all the safety standards to ensure the fire safety of the medical facility. Now, we will learn about the different types of fire safety necessities of a health facility like a hospital, nursing, etc.

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What Are The Fire Safety Certifications For Your Hospital/Nursing?

Here is a list of approvals and certification that you need to ensure the fire safety of your hospital:

• Primarily, the major regulatory compliance requirement is that the hospital or nursing home must have an approved registration with the officially authorized State Health Department authority (such as the Nursing Home Act, etc.) or from some other health Department. 
• Applicants need to apply for any applicable NOC (Non-objection certificate) from the fire department of state or local jurisdiction authority. 
• In case, a hospital does not have a Fire NOC, the hospital can make the following provisions in order to protect patient safety (Applicant could have some proof of the intention and the actions taken to get the fire NOC.)

1. Obtain a Fire Safety Compliance Certificate from an established and reliable third-party organization, which will be based on the agency's thorough Fire Safety Audit of the hospital. NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers) will receive the fire safety Audit Report and Certificates.
2. The Hospital can’t score zero for any of the requirements or criteria listed in the Fire Safety Chapter of the NABH Standards otherwise they would not get any fire safety NOC or certificate. In such situations, the assessors or inquiry persons will do the assessment while consulting a unique Fire Safety document checklist.
3. Once the assessors are done reviewing the assessment and fire safety audit reports, NABH might give directions for visiting the hospital or nursing home for a verification visit. This depends on the different complexities of different cases. 

• The hospital's management will make a written compliance letter in which they will ensure that their processes, systems, and facilities will comply with fire safety regulations.
• Regardless of having a fire NOC from the local state fire department, compliance with the fire safety checklist must be completed during the fire safety assessment. Applicant needs to put all efforts to obtain a Fire NOC from the Fire Services Department because this NOC will need to be demonstrated as and when required by NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers), and certification from an authorized government body shall be obtained in the event of a delay in the NOC and when they follow all the standards of the NABH accreditation requirements which includes demonstrated fire safety mechanisms & drills as per the standards.

What Are The Documents Required To Get All Types Of Fire Safety Compliances For Hospitals And Nursing Homes?

Here is a list of documents required for fire safety compliance for all medical facilities as per the health department U/S 394 of the MMC act:

• Applicant must have a copy of the approved plan from the concerned Authority showing the layout (Building/Premises) location of the main entrance/exit/staircase/lifts/fire lift etc. as per the requirements.
• If applicants need fire safety compliances for a nursing home then they would require an occupation Certificate from a nursing home.
• Registration Certificate of the medical facility is also very important to document in order to complete the fire safety compliance of the hospital or nursing home. 
• Hospitals or nursing homes need to show the compliance Certificate in case they have a kitchen facility available inside the premises of the following medical facility.
• Applicants also need to show the layout plan from the architect for nursing homes in which they have to mark the following details. 

1. Location of the road in front of the main gate in which they have to mention the name of the road and width of the road.
2. Applicants need to specify the location of staircases and the width of the staircase on the premises.
3. Applicants need to specify the area of the premises in sq. meters.
4. Applicants need to mention the capacity of a maximum number of people including staff calculated as per occupant load factor as per the guidelines mentioned in NBC/DCR.
5. Applicants need to mention the specific location & width of all entrances, exits & internal passages.
6. Application needs to mention the location of elevators/Mechanised floors along with the staircase for elevators and mechanized floors as certified by the concerned Authority.
7. If the hospital has an operation Theatre, Pathology Laboratory, Oxygen Cylinder/Bank/Tank, Opening of Glass façade, and Storage area then applicants need to mention all of them for fire safety compliances such as fire NOC.
8. Applicants need to specify the location of the main electrical switchboard. 
9. Location of Fire Resistant Door should be mentioned in the application for fire NOC. 
10. Applicants need to specify the locations of L.P.G. / P.N.G. installations and the supply pipeline of the same.
11. If you have installed any type of fire-fighting equipment/sprinkler / Detector then applicants need to mention all of them in the application. 

• Applicants need to show a test certificate from a government-approved electrical inspector regarding an electrical audit of the fixtures and fittings that were installed inside the hospital premises as per the Electricity Act and rules.
• Applicants must have a Certificate in Form-A for a Fire Resistance Door installation inside the hospital premises from a Licensed Agency. You can check the list of all the authorized agencies through this link www.mahafireservice.gov.in
• As per Section 3(3) and Rule 4(2) of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention & Life Safety Measures Act-2006, the Applicant needs to submit Form-A and/or Form-B Certificates (as per requirement) from licensed, authorized agencies regarding the firefighting and fire protection systems and equipment specified or installed on the hospital premises. 
• Applicants can apply for a validity certificate and receive it from concerned authorities when only fire extinguishers are required (As per the Bureau of Indian standards, E.N. standards, or other equivalent standards).
• Applicants need to sign an Rs. 500 Indemnity Bond on Stamp Paper as it is specified on the portal.
• Area certificate along with building height in meters should be authorized by the architect.
• Applicants need to provide an issued Building NOC from the Fire Department if the department has issued any. 

Read Our Blog: How to Start a Hospital in India

What Is The Procedure For Clearance From The Fire Department?

Here is a step-by-step procedure to get clearance from the fire department:

• If the hospital premises are listed in clause 7.1 of these Bye-Laws, then the relevant authority must refer the building plans to the chief fire officer for clearance.
• The concerned authority will confirm that the proposals are in accordance with the Master Plan/Zonal Plan of the region and they need to provide it to the chief fire officer with three sets of complete building drawings and the specified price.
• The plans must be specifically marked and must include the standard signs and symbols on the drawings, together with a sufficient legend that details the proposed building's comprehensive fire safety arrangements and means of entry and escape. The document must be properly signed or approved by a registered fire consultant or architect because that will specify the information of the fire safety measures of the hospital. They must be provided as per the requirements of Annexure "D". Requirements for Chapter 7: Fire Protection and Fire Safety
• The Chief Fire Officer is a responsible authorized person for reviewing these plans to make sure that the applicant follows all the laws and standards as per requirements for fire safety and escape routes. The Chief Fire Officer will submit two sets of plans that have been properly signed for implementation to the authority responsible for approving the new construction of a hospital or nursing home.
• The Owner/Builder of the Building needs to approach the Chief fire officer through the concerned authority for obtaining clearance from the point of view of fire safety which includes the escape after completion of the firefighting installations as approved, duly tested, and certified by the licensed fire registered architect. Before issuing the completion certificate for the building mentioned in clause 7.1, the concerned authority must make sure that permission from the Chief Fire Officer has been acquired.
• After assuring himself that all fire safety and escape routes are operational as per the requirements of authorized plans, the chief fire officer will provide the No Objection Certificate on the basis of the specific request. 

Conclusion

In this article, we talked about the complete process of Fire safety compliance registrations and we have shared the complete methodology for all types of fire safety compliances. This article talks about the objectives of fire safety in medical facilities and how you can apply for fire safety compliances such as fire NOC. We talked about the guidelines, objectives, and methods of the fire safety department of India. We have shared the complete procedure for the registration for the fire NOC from the fire department. If you want any help regarding the procedure of Fire safety compliance registration or other compliances for the same, then you can visit our website Corpseed. We shall be glad to help you. Thank you for reading this blog, goodbye.