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A CARE HOME in south Co Dublin apparently declined to call fire services following an unexpected fire alarm as the expense would have been too great.
The Richmond House care facility in Monkstown was subject to a 2-day inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) in June, the report of which has just been released.
The findings of the inspection suggest that the care home, operated by the Cheshire Foundation in Ireland, was majorly non-compliant with standards with regard to health and safety and risk management.
Specifically, although staff were able to describe what they should do in the event of a fire incident, the report found that following an unexpected alarm “staff did not call the fire authorities due to costs of doing same”.
Fire brigade charges vary significantly across the country, both for commercial and residential call-outs.
The current hourly rate for a fire brigade call-out is €500 for a residential emergency and €610 for an alarm raised by a commercial entity.
The home was also found to be majorly non-compliant in the following areas:
TheJournal.ie has contacted Cheshire Ireland for comment on the findings of the inspection report.
The AA last year lobbied for call-out charges for domestic fires to be abolished, deeming the current system to be “confusing, unfair and unsafe”.
Many commercial enterprises pay a premium on their insurance to cover fire charges following emergencies.
Call-out charges for commercial enterprises were first introduced in 2003 with varying rates depending upon the severity of the incident. This was followed by the introduction of charges for domestic incidents in 2012 – with a rate of €500 for attendance at a home fire and €610 for road crashes.
If there is to be a silver lining in all this, I hope that those people that used to breathe down the back of your neck in queues, finally get the awareness to give us some personal space.
@Mark Malone: I’m afraid they are still around and continue to do so regardless of restrictions
@Mark Malone: Been thinking something like this. Manners will come back again. Just got to work on the spitting and urinating everywhere now.
There should be greater nuance in the question phrasing e.g. it is not complusory to wear a mask in public spaces, it should be asked if people either wear masks in enclosed spaces (shops/buses etc.) or in crowded public places. Would have been useful also to see fear added to the emotional well-being tracking – probably a prevailing emotion at the start that would hope has declined significantly.
@Spbeak: To suggest that 90% of people wear masks in all public places is just incorrect
@Spbeak: does worry and anxiety not kind of cover fear?
@Jim Smith: well the survey relies on people reporting their own behaviour the true figure probably a bit lower alright
@Jim Smith:
Depends I suppose, on what you call a public space for the purpose of mask wearing.
Walking down a street in the open air is in public, going for a walk on the beach or in a town park with your children is in public, but where social distancing is not an issue, then facemasks are a matter of choice.
From what I observed during December, facemasks were being worn by nearly everyone, certainly greater than 90%, in the places where social distancing was a difficulty, retail parks, shopping centres and such like. If fact most people seemed to be putting on their facemasks before they got out of their cars and were being extremely diligent and responsible about it.
Someone else has suggested that the questions asked in this article are a bit vague, I think they are correct.
@NotMyIreland: not really. Fear is a separate, though related, emotion.
The numbers shown and the ups and down in the infection numbers match. Says everything.
have your say