BENGALURU: The Karnataka government has issued revised fire safety guidelines to be followed by healthcare institutions across the state. Institutions housed in buildings below 21 metres in height will now be required to comply with prescribed fire safety norms and obtain No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the Fire and Emergency Services Department.
The home department on Friday issued an order stating that hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare establishments located in buildings measuring up to 20.99 metres must install essential fire safety equipment.
Outpatient clinics, polyclinics, diagnostic laboratories, dental clinics, blood banks, AYUSH therapy centres, counselling centres and health check-up facilities operating in smaller buildings must install ABC-type fire extinguishers at specified intervals and CO2 extinguishers near electrical panels.
The government has categorised hospital buildings based on height, floor area and the presence of inpatient facilities, with fire safety infrastructure scaled accordingly.
For healthcare buildings with inpatient beds, basements or multiple floors, stricter safety measures have been mandated. These include hose reel systems, downcomers, fire alarm systems, automatic fire detection systems, terrace or underground water storage tanks. Hospitals with basements exceeding 300 square metres required to install sprinkler systems.