IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i7p4315-d787441.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fire Safety of Healthcare Units in Conditions of Oxygen Therapy in COVID-19: Empirical Establishing of Effects of Elevated Oxygen Concentrations

Author

Listed:
  • Wojciech Wróblewski

    (Internal Security Institute, The Main School of Fire Service, 01-629 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Norbert Tuśnio

    (Faculty of Safety Engineering and Civil Protection, The Main School of Fire Service, 01-629 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Paweł Wolny

    (Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-924 Lodz, Poland)

  • Dorota Siuta

    (Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-924 Lodz, Poland)

  • Janusz Trzebicki

    (Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-005 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Teresa Bączkowska

    (Department of Transplantation Medicine and Nephrology, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-006 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Olga Dzikowska-Diduch

    (Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-005 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Piotr Pruszczyk

    (Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-005 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Large-scale usage of oxygen therapy (OT) may lead to increased oxygen concentrations (OC) in places where COVID-19 patients are treated. The aim of the study was to establish in an empirical way the OC in COVID-19 at the patient’s bedside and to assess the relationships and reactions that occur during OT in an uncontrolled oxygen-enriched environment. We analyzed and took into account the OC, the technical conditions of the buildings and the air exchange systems. Based on the results, we performed a Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis to assess evacuation conditions in the event of a fire outbreak in the COVID-19 zone. A total of 337 measurements of OC were carried out, and three safety thresholds were then defined and correlated with fire effects. The highest ascertained oxygen concentration was 25.2%. In the event of a fire outbreak at 25.2% oxygen in the atmosphere, the response time and evacuation of medical staff and patients is no longer than 2.5 min. Uncontrolled oxygen enrichment of the environment threatens the safety of medical staff and patients in COVID-19 hospitals.

Suggested Citation

  • Wojciech Wróblewski & Norbert Tuśnio & Paweł Wolny & Dorota Siuta & Janusz Trzebicki & Teresa Bączkowska & Olga Dzikowska-Diduch & Piotr Pruszczyk, 2022. "Fire Safety of Healthcare Units in Conditions of Oxygen Therapy in COVID-19: Empirical Establishing of Effects of Elevated Oxygen Concentrations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4315-:d:787441
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4315/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4315/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adriana Dowbysz & Bożena Kukfisz & Dorota Siuta & Mariola Samsonowicz & Andrzej Maranda & Wojciech Kiciński & Wojciech Wróblewski, 2022. "Analysis of the Flammability and the Mechanical and Electrostatic Discharge Properties of Selected Personal Protective Equipment Used in Oxygen-Enriched Atmosphere in a State of Epidemic Emergency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-12, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4315-:d:787441. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.