老人安養機構防火安全之研究

在老年人口數提高、總生育率降低同時，台灣已邁入老齡化社會，經建會評估，到民國一百一十六年，老年人口比率將超過百分之廿，每五個人中就有一位老人。台灣的人口老化現象是我們必須去重視的。目前的老人福利服務，以照護機構為主流。今年，總共已有八七○家長期照顧機構，總床數超過四萬床，平均五十個就一個老人送安養機構，而都會區小型總床數（十至廿九床）已佔全部安養機構的七成（五人以上為機構）。台灣的老人安養機構通常會想營造家的感覺，把出入口做得不像門，以防老人因不安而逃跑，但消防標準卻規定出入口要清楚標明，與現有法令不能完全和諧。另外，安養機構必須高度專業化，例如廿四小時的護理，但難以達此標準；且台灣安養機構通常是團體作息流程，多人同住一房，難以維護個人隱私；未立案機構的黑戶問題，也必須解決。有鑑於國內高齡化安養機構成立家數愈來愈多，機構內多為行動不便的老人，如發生火災極易造成重大人命傷亡，尤其是八十七年元月十五日凌晨○時三十五分台北縣中和市南興路二段五十四巷十四號「慈民安養中心」火災造成十一人死亡，十人受傷之不幸慘劇，嚴重突顯出高齡化安養機構防火安全上之缺失。雖然我國現行建築、消防法令對高齡化安養機構防火安全上有規定，惟高齡化安養機構在使用上、型態上有其特殊性，所收容長者在災害發生時避難逃生上有其困難性，因此高齡化安養機構安全性，一直是焦點話題。因此本研究將先調查台北市安養中心現況與趨勢，並藉由安養中心火災案例暨現行消防法規內容之研析，擬定安養中心火災人命危險因素，再針對台北市安養中心進行人命安全評估調查，藉由以上資料尋找出安養中心火災危險要因與可能衍生之問題所在，並提出相關防火安全對策，祈能供相關政府單位及研究機構參考。

關鍵字

老人；安養機構；防火安全

並列摘要

Taiwan is becoming an aging society, because of an increasingly longer life expectancy and a decreasing birth rate. According to the prediction of the Economy Counseling Committee, in the year 2027, the elderly will be more than 20% of population in Taiwan. That is, one elderly in every five people. Current social benefit implementation for the elderly in Taiwan mainly focus on building the nursing facility. Up to this year, there are 870 nursing homes for long-term elderly care, with more than 40,000 beds in total. That means, one in every 50 senior citizens is using the nursing facility. Among the total beds of all nursing facilities, 70% are in small nursing homes residing in metropolitan areas. In an attempt to fabricate a warm, home-like atmosphere for minimizing the anxiety of senior citizens, the doors of many nursing homes are built quite different from regular exits, which is contradictory to the firefighting laws that require the exits to be clearly shown. Furthermore, many nursing facilities do not meet the law-required professional standards, such as a 24-hour personal nursing care, which is difficult to be enforced by the government. Many nursing homes in Taiwan adopt a group-care format, where 2 to 4 persons share one room, hence personal privacy is poor. Unregistered nursing homes also represent another safety problem to be solved. The risk of fire accident in nursing homes for the elderly remains high in Taiwan, frequently resulting in heavy casualties. For instance, the fire occurring at 0:35 midnight on January 15th, 1998, at number 14, 54th lane, Nan-Hsing street 2nd section , Chung-Ho city, Taipei county, resulted in a tragedy of eleven deaths and ten wounded. That accident exemplified the loophole of fire security in nursing homes for the elderly. Taiwan government has comprehensive legal regulations on building construction and fire security of all buildings, including nursing homes. Poor agility and insufficient mobility of the elder residents in nursing homes, however, frequently results in inefficient escape from the building during fire accidents. Therefore, the fire safety of nursing homes for the elderly remain a prime task of our society. In this study, I have surveyed the current status and the evolving trends of fire safety of nursing homes in Taipei city, analyzed fire cases of nursing home and relevant fire law regulations, and identified the fatal risk factors of nursing home fires. Then through an investigation of life safety of nursing homes in Taipei city, I have revealed the major fire hazards of nursing home and related problems. In the last part of this study, I have proposed the approaches of promoting fire safety, hoping this information can be of a useful reference for legislations and academic institutes.