A Study on Indicators of Facilities Planning Element and Maintenance System for Sanatorium for Senior Citizen

The purpose of this study is to present indicators of facilities planning element(FPE) and maintenance system(MS) to determine the fire safety level of a sanatorium for senior citizens. This research focused on deriving indicators scientifically proven in previous studies according to the Evidence Based Design theory. The indicators were specifically derived through a two-step process of derivation of primary indicators through Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR) and verification of indicators through Focus Group Interviews (FGI). As a result, most of the indicators derived through the SLR and FGI were mutually consistent. It was found that the FPE indicators were more effective for fire safety than the MS. The most effective FPE indicators for fire safety were sprinklers and escape and rescue equipment. In addition, smoke exhaust facilities, automatic fire detection systems, fireproof partitions, fire extinguishers, and single alarm detectors were also shown as major indicators. Among MS indicators, fire drill, in-house inspection on fire-fighting systems, fire evacuation manual, and the preparation of an evacuation plan was found to be important indicators. It was also found that securing sufficient staff is essential to ensure the safety of elderly with weak physical and cognitive characteristics. On the other hand, the importance of sprinklers and escape and rescue equipment for fire safety was found to be different in terms of derivation of indicators according to SLR and FGI. From this point of view, it is necessary to investigate whether smoke exhaust facilities, automatic fire detection systems, single alarm detectors, fireproof partitions, and fire extinguishers were installed to improve the fire safety of elderly care facilities. Lastly, this study presented a list of data that should be collected to understand the fire safety level of sanatoriums for senior citizens.