Fire protection and passive fire safety for healthcare

Compartmentalization and fire protection provisions in buildings where evacuation is not an option.

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In a hospital, nursing home, or mental health institution, full evacuation in the event of a fire is practically impossible. The fire safety strategy therefore relies heavily on passive measures: the building itself must contain the fire, so that residents can be moved horizontally to a safe compartment.

Grazy Brandwering works in occupied healthcare environments with strict agreements on hygiene, noise, dust, and access. We phase the work per department, coordinate with the technical department, and record every provision in a digital logbook that substantiates the duty of care under the Bbl.

Where things go wrong

Risks relevant to this sector

Residents unable to self-evacuate

Evacuation time is long. Sub-compartmentalization per department and reliable, self-closing doors are crucial to keep a fire contained during horizontal evacuation.

Ongoing renovations

Care buildings are constantly being altered. Every new cable tray or medical gas pipe through a fire separation must be sealed with a system substantiated for that application, and checked after the work - this is exactly where most defects arise.

Oversight and accountability

The municipality as competent authority, the fire service and insurers may ask care institutions for an up-to-date file of the fire protection provisions.

Our approach

Services that make the biggest difference here

Fire-Resistant Doors

Fire doors made to measure, adjusted or refurbished: up to 60 minutes fire resistance, smoke-resistant where required, self-closing and certified.

More about fire-resistant doors

Fire-Resistant Seals­

Sealing penetrations against fire with collars, wrap strips, sealant, mortar or other systems with a substantiated application, so that the WBDBO of your fire separation stays intact.

More about fire-resistant seals

Fire-Resistant Separating Structures­

Fire-resistant walls, partition systems and ceilings that divide your building into manageable fire compartments.

More about fire-resistant separating structures

Fire dampers

Installing, testing and maintaining fire dampers: automatic shut-off of ventilation ducts at every compartment boundary.

More about fire dampers

Maintenance & Inspection

Periodic maintenance and inspection of your fire protection, with everything verifiably recorded in a digital logbook.

More about maintenance & inspection
Practical example

What that looks like in practice

At a nursing home with 90 places, we set the sub-compartmentalization per living group in order over eight weekend shifts: 34 fire doors adjusted or replaced, 210 penetrations resealed, all recorded with photos and registration labels.

View our projects

Assessment framework

  • Dutch Buildings Decree (Bbl) - duties of care Art. 3.5 (condition of existing building) and 6.4 (fire-safe use)
  • NEN 6068 / NEN 6075 - WBDBO and smoke resistance between (sub-)compartments
  • NEN-EN 1634 - fire and smoke resistance of doors on escape routes
  • NEN 2767 - condition assessment for the multi-year maintenance plan
Assisted living

Care complexes and assisted-living buildings

Structurally, a care complex is a hybrid: it has the residential function of an apartment building and the risk profile of a care institution. Residents live independently behind their own front door, but in a fire they are often of limited self-reliance. As a result, stricter requirements apply to the separation between the residential units and towards the shared corridors and stairwells than in ordinary housing.

Grazy Brandwering surveys the condition of the fire separation per residential unit and per communal area. We work in occupied complexes with fixed agreements on notice, working hours and dust control, and provide a logbook with which the care organisation and the property owner can substantiate their duty of care towards the municipality, fire service and insurer.

Residents of limited self-reliance behind their own door

Unlike in a nursing home, there is no permanent supervision in every corridor. The party-wall construction and the self-closing front door have to hold back a fire on their own for long enough.

Care technology through party walls

Nurse call systems, patient hoists, nursing cabling and extra electrics are installed afterwards. Those penetrations through walls and floors between dwellings often remain unsealed.

Shared responsibility between care provider and owner

The care organization often rents from an investor or housing association. Who maintains the structural fire protection is not always clearly set out in the lease, which is why maintenance is left undone for years.

Shared spaces with a residential function

Recreation rooms, shared kitchens and care stations in the middle of a residential floor change the compartmentalization compared with the original design.

Practical example

In an assisted-living complex with 64 independent units we found 96 unsealed penetrations for nurse call systems and additional electrics, plus 21 front doors that no longer latched. The remediation ran floor by floor over six weeks, with reporting that both the care organization and the owner could use.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about fire safety in healthcare institutions

Yes. The work is done per department or wing, with dust screens and outside peak care times, coordinated in advance with the emergency response organization. Escape routes remain usable during the work.

For each provision it immediately shows the location on the floor plan, the last inspection date, the result and the certificate - exactly what the municipality, fire service or insurer may ask for during an inspection.

A sub-fire compartment confines a fire to a small part of a floor, for example one living group, so that in the event of fire only the directly threatened residents need to be moved horizontally.

Both may have obligations: the condition of the building (Article 3.5 Bbl) is a different question from fire-safe use (Article 6.4), and the user is also responsible for what is changed during the use phase. In practice we recommend recording who surveys and maintains the structural fire protection. Our report is set up so that both parties can read what falls under their part.

Yes. Most of the work is in the corridors, shafts and stairwells. Work inside a residential unit is announced to each resident individually and usually completed within half a day, with dust control and a tidied-up work area at the end.

Often, yes. As soon as there is a care function with residents of limited self-reliance, additional requirements may apply to sub-compartmentalization and to the smoke resistance of doors. What applies to your complex depends on the occupancy classification in the permit; we check that during the survey.

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