Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced new emergency preparedness legislation aimed at making nursing home evacuations easier for first responders.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero and Rep. Tina Davis introduced the bill following explosions at Saber Healthcare Group’s Bristol Health and Rehabilitation in the state, which left three dead and another 20 people injured – at the time, first responders couldn’t be certain they had evacuated everyone.
State law currently requires operators regulated by the state Department of Human Services to have emergency plans, but doesn’t require them to share these plans publicly or with first responders.
The bill proposes operators share their emergency plans with local police, fire and rescue squads annually or within 30 days of significant revisions, and must prepare for fires, explosions, evacuations, shelter-in-place orders, and other hazards.
More broadly, close to half of all fires in health care facilities between 2014 and 2016 occurred in nursing homes, according to data published by the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). And 71% of fires were caused by cooking, 5% by appliances, 5% by heating and 5% by electrical systems.
And just days after the state legislation was introduced, a report published by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) explored emergency preparedness in the sector even further, finding that roughly 73% of nursing homes across the country are running on inadequate or unreliable emergency power systems, and broadly aren’t prepared for power outages.
The federal investigation was spurred by resident deaths following unsafe conditions during Hurricane Ida.
Legislation in Pennsylvania establishes minimum baseline elements to ensure these plans are actionable during a crisis, lawmakers said in a statement.
“In facilities that serve our most vulnerable residents, every second counts, and preparation is everything,” said Davis. “This legislation would make sure the right information is in the right hands before an emergency happens — so police, firefighters and EMS can act quickly, decisively and save lives.”
Facilities would need to have accountability procedures too, to track visitors in the buildings as well as residents and staff. Vendors in particular were hard to account for in the Bristol explosion, Bristol Township Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Lawmakers said there may be even more legislation as new details of the explosion came to light – notably, how the facility had no gas detectors.
“In an emergency, preparation is not optional, and coordination between local first responders and high-risk care facilities is critical,” said Santarsiero. “This bill is critical to ensuring our first responders have the details they need to operate as quickly and safely as possible.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the explosions at Bristol and hasn’t yet assigned fault; lawmakers expect a full report on the matter by the end of the year.
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