Sprinklers mandated for NSW nursing homes

By Keryn Curtis

Operators of residential aged care services in New South Wales will have up to three years to retrofit automatic sprinkler systems in existing residential aged care buildings, following changes to planning regulations announced today by NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Brad Hazzard. 

The new mandatory requirements which will commence from January 2013, require automatic sprinkler systems to be installed in all new and existing Commonwealth accredited residential aged care facilities in NSW to reduce the fire risk for elderly and vulnerable residents in the wake of the Quakers Hill Nursing Home fire in western Sydney in  November 2011.

Mr Hazzard said the NSW Government had established a working group of key industry stakeholders in response to the tragic Quakers Hill Nursing Home fire in which nine people died as a direct result and a further 10 from injuries at least partly related to the fire.

“The Government has today committed to decisive action to ensure our most vulnerable are protected,” said Mr Hazzard.

 “A survey of the state’s aged care facilities, commissioned by the NSW Government earlier this year, found that around 55 per cent did not have fire sprinklers installed.

“This equates to nearly 600 aged care facilities, containing some 24,000 beds.”

Operators will be given 18 months to complete retrofitting of sprinklers, but providers who can’t meet that timeframe will have until January 2016.  This means providers will have up to three years from commencement of the regulation, with a ‘possible extension of one year for exceptional circumstances’.  Beyond the 18 month timeframe, operators will be required to submit six-monthly progress reports to the implementation committee.

Operators will also need to inform residents, prospective residents and families about whether sprinklers are installed and progress reports will be made publicly available.

Minister for Ageing and Disability Services, Andrew Constance, said similar requirements exist in Victoria and Queensland and the proposed changes in NSW would be consistent with the Building Code of Australia’s national standard for sprinklers in new aged care buildings, which has applied since 2002.

“Residents of aged care buildings are a vulnerable group. Many need assistance for mobility and communication and most may experience some difficulty in evacuating a building in an emergency without assistance,” Mr Constance said.

Welcomed by consumers

Chief executive of COTA Australia, Ian Yates, has welcomed the announcement and is now calling for all states and the federal government to extend the requirement of safety sprinklers to all nursing homes around Australia.

“This is a very welcome announcement, and I hope that the program will prevent future tragedy’s such as the one experienced in Quaker’s Hill last year,” said Mr Yates. 

“Every Australian living in a nursing home, or who has a loved one in a nursing home, has the right to know that they are safe and every measure is being taken to ensure that in the event of the unthinkable those less able to look after themselves will be ok.

“Sprinklers have now been proven by the NSW authorities to be effective not only in physical control of a fire, but of reducing the risk of injury and fatality. It has been found that they would have made a significant difference in the Quakers Hill nursing home tragedy, and would have saved lives.

“While I understand the financial position of some homes may delay the installation of their fire safety systems, it is important that sprinklers be fitted as quickly as possible to ensure all nursing homes have the highest of safety standards and a repeat of Quakers Hill never happens again,” Mr Yates said.

National Seniors chief executive, Michael O’Neill, has also praised the NSW government for doing the right thing by older Australians, saying it was time for the other states to get in behind them.

“Sprinklers are a basic standard that we expect in childcare centres, schools and hospitals. It’s mind-boggling that we have to fight to get them installed in nursing homes.” 

“We’re talking about frail, vulnerable people, and, as a society, it’s our duty to keep them safe,” Mr O’Neill said.

Provider concerns

While not disputing the benefits of installing sprinklers in nursing homes, at least one operator has spoken out about the NSW Government’s timeline saying a retroactive law with no funding attached will cause considerable concern for smaller communities.

IRT chief executive, Nieves Murray, said aged care facilities in regional centres were vital community resources and their continued operations could be jeopardised if the three-year timeline of installation was not softened with financial assistance.

“Aged care operators are already facing funding cuts to the federal government s Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) . The need to find further money for a mandated infrastructure spend could hurt a lot of small operators and directly impacts funding available for the direct provision of care.

“The program needs to be more staggered and, in all honesty, it needs to be appropriately funded. We do not want to see cases from across the industry where funding for sprinklers is at the expense of residential care,” said Ms Murray.

“There is also potentially a great deal of disruption to the lives of residents when undertaking any form of major construction – and operators need to be aware of that also.

“The solution to fire safety in an aged care environment cannot start and finish with sprinklers. We need to also see broader training involving government agencies, which links staff and residents with emergency services, including fire drills,” she said.

The NSW Government will exhibit proposed changes to planning regulations:

• Creating new offences and penalties for building owners who fail to comply with the sprinkler requirements
• Fast-tracking planning approvals for the retrofitting of sprinklers by allowing the majority of them to be approved in 10 days as complying development, and
• Establishing an implementation committee to oversee the rollout.