Helsinki City Rescue Department

Evacuation safety reports

Evacuation safety means that the persons in the building are able to leave the building in the event of a fire or other sudden dangerous situations, or they can be evacuated in another way. In general, the owner and occupant of the building and the operator are responsible for the fire and evacuation safety of the building. In care institutions, service and support housing units and other premises where the residents have decreased functional capacity, the operator has a special obligation to ensure evacuation safety.

The operators of hospitals, care homes for the elderly and other institutional care facilities, closed penal institutions and other comparable sites (care institutions), and service and supported housing organised in the form of housing units and other comparable residential buildings and facilities housing residents whose functional capacity is lower than normal (service and supported housing) shall, by using reports and plans drawn up in advance and by taking measures based on them, ensure that the residents and the persons being treated are, in the event of a fire or other dangerous situation, able to leave the building safely, either on their own or with assistance.
(The Rescue Act 379/2011, section 18)

The evacuation safety report is a document that describes manner in which the building or space is used or how the limited, weakened or varying functional capacity of persons and other factors affecting evacuation safety are taken into account when preparations are made for fires and other dangerous situations and in evacuation arrangements.

The emergency plan serves as a tool for improving safety and is provided for in section 15 of the Rescue Act 379/2011. 

There are a guide for emergency planning and a basis for emergency plan that are directed fir care institutions and service and supported housing. 

Who is required to prepare an evacuation safety report? (in Finnish)

Provisions on the evacuation safety report and the obligation to draw it up:
Rescue Act (379/2011), sections 9, 14, 18–21, 81–82
Government Decree on the evacuation safety report (292/2014) (in Finnish)

Making an evacuation safety report

In the evacuation safety report, the operator must present:

1. how the limited, reduced or different functional capacity of the residents or treated patients affects the evacuation process during a fire and other dangerous situations;
2. whether the residents or treated patients can evacuate independently, with the personnel’s assistance or with the personnel’s and the Rescue Department’s assistance;
3. what is the operational preparedness of the personnel and other possible external assistance;
4. how long does it take for the residents or patients to evacuate their room and the fire compartments.

The evacuation safety review is done, based on the most difficult possible situation concerning the rescue operations. This refers to a situation where the number of staff and their operational preparedness are at their lowest and the number of patients/residents is the highest possible and their functional capabilities are the lowest. The evacuation safety report form has more detailed instructions for compiling the review.

An operator can draft the evacuation safety report

• utilising Evacuation safety report form (part A and part B) (in Finnish), or
• in a free format, while ensuring that the content requirements presented in the decree on the evacuation safety report are met.

The evacuation safety report and its attachments must be sent: 
a) by email to pel.poistumisturvallisuusselvitys@hel.fi (subject field: ”Evacuation safety report/location’s address”)

OR

b) to the address:
City of Helsinki
Rescue Department
PO Box 112
00099 The City of Helsinki

Reference: Evacuation safety report

The requested mandatory attachments and other information necessary for assessing the evacuation safety information must be attached to the review. See the instructions for the necessary evacuation safety report form (part B).

The evacuation safety report must be updated every three years or if the operations change in some essential way. The updated report must be delivered to a rescue authority for evaluation. If there are no essential changes in the operations, the updating of the evacuation safety report is handled over the periodical fire inspection. 

Processing the evacuation safety report and further measures

The rescue authority will carry out an evacuation safety evaluation based on the operator’s report and the possible inspection at the location. 

If it is assessed that the evacuation safety is not sufficient, the operator is firstly given a correction order to draft an implementation plan of evacuation safety. The implementation plan of evacuation safety is a plan drafted by the operators, which presents the measures and schedules for ensuring that the evacuation safety meets the requirements. There are separate instructions for making this plan: Implementation plan of evacuation safety (In Finnish)

In the defects observed in connection to the evacuation, the safety evaluation cannot be corrected and the rescue authority evaluates that the measures presented in the implementation plan cannot improve the evacuation safety to a sufficient level, the rescue authority must issue an implementation order of evacuation safety. In such situations, the rescue authority can also issue specific safety requirements defined in section 82 of the Rescue Act, such as an order to install an automatic extinguishing system.