By Healthcare Facilities Today

The Manitoba government is creating a task force to improve fire safety in personal care homes but will not make sprinkler systems mandatory in all facilities, according to an article on the CBC website.

“We have a variety of ages of facilities and not all of them are built in such a way that we can retrofit them with sprinkler systems,” Erna Braun, minister responsible for the Office of the Fire Commissioner, said in the article.

In January, CBC News reported that of Manitoba’s 125 personal care homes, 24 have partial sprinkler systems and 39 have no sprinklers. Since 1998, Manitoba's building code has required all newly built or extensively renovated personal care homes to have full sprinkler systems installed. Older facilities are not required to be retrofitted to meet the same standards.

Ontario announced in May 2013 that it would require all nursing homes without sprinkler systems to install them, and allowed 11 years to complete the work.

The fire safety task force will review fire safety in facilities that house vulnerable people including retirement homes, assisted living and supportive housing, hospitals and group homes. The province is also allocating up to $7 million annually for sprinkler and other fire safety upgrades in those facilities. A $2 million fire safety fund will also being created to cover unforeseen expenses. 

The Manitoba task force will offer recommendations on timelines for sprinkler installations and on facilities where sprinkler retrofits would be appropriate.

Read the article.