Care Home Fire Safety for Open Week: Review Your Fire Risk Assessment

Care Home Open Week means more people in the building, unfamiliar faces in the corridors, and daily routines that shift to make room for tours and visitors. For care home managers across Cumbria, the most useful thing you can do before the doors open is review your fire risk assessment, so it reflects the temporary rise in occupancy. This guide walks through what to check and why it matters.

Why Open Week changes your fire risk

Your fire risk assessment is a living document, not a form you file once and forget. During Open Week, visitor numbers rise, people who do not know the layout move through communal areas, there is a temptation to prop fire doors open to feel welcoming, and staff attention is split between residents and guests. Each of those changes affects how quickly and safely everyone could get out.

Care homes matter so much in fire safety terms because the people living in them often cannot evacuate without help. A sensible review before a busy week is time well spent. None of this means you should not open your doors. It means you should prepare properly.

What your fire risk assessment should cover

You do not always need to start from scratch. Often a short note that records the changed conditions and the steps you are taking to manage them is enough, as long as it is written down. Walk the building with fresh eyes and ask the simple question: if the alarm went off at the busiest moment of Open Week, could everyone get out safely?

What the law expects of you

As the person in charge of the premises, you are expected to have an up-to-date fire risk assessment in place and to keep it current when things change. A week of extra visitors and altered routines is exactly the kind of change that should prompt a review.

Why inspectors care

Fire safety is part of what the Care Quality Commission looks at when it inspects a home. An out-of-date fire risk assessment, or staff who cannot describe the evacuation procedure, is the kind of thing that finds its way into a report. An assessment that has been reviewed and updated for a specific event like Open Week shows good governance, which is exactly the sort of evidence inspectors want to see. If yours has not been looked at this year, Open Week is a good prompt to put that right before the visitors arrive.

Open Week fire safety: your questions answered

Who is responsible for fire safety in a care home?

It is the person or organisation in charge of the premises, usually the company that runs the home rather than just the registered manager. Their job is to make sure a fire risk assessment is in place and kept up to date.

How often should we review the fire risk assessment?

There is no fixed interval. The rule of thumb is to review it regularly and whenever something changes. A busy event like Open Week, which changes who is in the building and how it is used, is a clear trigger to take another look.

Can we prop a fire door open for visitors?

Not with a wedge, a chair or a bin. If you want a fire door held open to feel welcoming, fit a proper hold-open device that lets the door close by itself the moment the alarm sounds. Anything else stops the door protecting people.