Measures to Enhance the Evacuation Safety of Nursing Hospitals Through Fire and Evacuation Simulations

Abstract

This study aimed to calculate the habitable time using a fire and evacuation simulation program for an in-operation nursing hospital, compare and analyze it with the required evacuation time, and suggest a plan to enhance evacuation safety. The habitable time was calculated through fire simulations by assuming that a fire was caused by the careless handling of heating appliances in a doctor’s office. The evacuation time required for the occupants of the nursing hospital, including those who could not evacuate themselves, was compared and analyzed with the habitable time through the evacuation simulation. In the simulation, nursing hospitals of two stories or higher were not mandated to install ramps or elevators, per the current standards. The evacuation time of the nursing hospital subjected to this experiment exceeded the habitable time; hence, evacuation safety was not ensured. Through evacuation time analysis, we sequentially compared and analyzed the cases where those who were unable to evacuate on their own would evacuate using only the ramp, or only the elevator, or both, the ramp and the elevator. Additionally, the cases in which additional evacuation spaces were installed were also analyzed for the three situations. The evacuation simulation results demonstrated that the evacuation time significantly increased in other instances compared with the cases where ramps, elevators, and evacuation spaces were all installed. The results indicate that all nursing hospitals that are two stories or higher should be required to install all ramps, elevators, and evacuation spaces by amending related laws.