In a recent Q&A on the FacilityCare website, consultant Brad Keyes answered a question about too many extra fire drills.

Q: We have a building adjacent to our main hospital (separated by a two-hour fire wall) that is a mixed occupancy. There are three stairwells that serve this building, but one has been taken out of service for emergency egress due to a large construction project outside. I have been conducting two fire drills per shift per quarter in this particular building for almost two years now, and I fear I have fire drilled our employees in that building to the point that they have become desensitized to the fire alarms. It’s my understanding that the fire drill frequency can be specified in our Interim Life Safety Measures (ISLM) policy. Here’s my thought: I’d like to state in our ILSM policy that any project lasting longer than a year will no longer require additional fire drills. That is, a whole year’s worth of additional drills is plenty and more drills can actually have a negative impact instead of a helpful one for our fire response efforts.

A: I think your thought process is valid and sound. Conducting too many fire drills does in fact desensitize one to an actual event. Since the accreditation organizations do not specify exactly what your ILSM policy must say, then I agree that you can reduce the number of additional drills based on the length of time that the deficiency exists.

However, the accreditation organization will be somewhat suspicious of this action, so you need to be prepared.

Read the full answer.