The Bulletin recently broke down a report from the National Fire Protection Agency about fires in healthcare facilities.
Between 1980 and 1984, smoking materials caused 30 percent of all hospital and hospice fires, but from 2009 to 2013, that decreased dramatically to 4 percent.
“We had a number of fires 20, 30 years ago in linen hampers, where patients would end up stashing their cigarette butts under their pillow and they would get picked up and thrown in the linen hamper,” Chad Beebe, deputy executive director of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering, told The Bulletin. “Now you don’t even see [smoking materials] at the top of the list.”
Now, the main cause of fires in healthcare facilities is cooking equipment, accounting for 65 percent of fires between 2009 and 2013.
More articles on facilities management:
Mayo Clinic submits plans for future expansion in Rochester
Police investigating possible arson of historic Kentucky hospital
Why Johns Hopkins opened an urgent care center specifically for cancer patients
