Improving fire safety for the elderly
About half of those who die in fires in Sweden are 65 years or older, while this group only makes up about a fifth of the population. The home care service has therefore been identified as an important player in improving fire safety for this group.
Despite many efforts, however, the death toll among the elderly has not decreased. Researchers from the Division of Nursing and Medical Technology and from the Division of Division of Structural and Fire Engineering have therefore jointly investigated how the actual fire protection work in the field works. Some of the conclusions are that there is great potential in reducing the number of fatalities through efforts from the home care service, but that measures are needed to transfer knowledge and routines to the home care staff. A new business model is also proposed to encourage municipal as well as private home services to work more actively with fire safety. The project was presented on March 16 at a webinar with about 300 participants:
[https://www.brandforsk.se/forskningsprojekt/2021/hemtjanst-och-brandsakerhet-ur-hemtjanstens-perspektiv/]
[/research/subjects/Omvardnad/Nyheter-och-aktuellt/Malet-att-farre-aldre-dor-i-brander-1.203188?l=en]
