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Fire Incidents in a Mental Health Setting: Effects of Implementing Smokefree Polices and Permitting the Use of Different Types of E-Cigarettes

Debbie Robson, Gilda Spaducci, Ann McNeill, Mary Yates, Melissa Wood and Sol Richardson
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Debbie Robson: Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AF, UK
Gilda Spaducci: Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AF, UK
Ann McNeill: Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AF, UK
Mary Yates: South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London SE5 8AZ, UK
Melissa Wood: South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London SE5 8AZ, UK
Sol Richardson: Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AF, UK

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-16

Abstract: Comprehensive smokefree policies in health care settings can have a positive impact on patients’ smoking behaviour, but implementation is impeded by concern that surreptitious smoking may increase fire incidents. We investigated the incidence of routinely reported fire and false alarm incidents in a large mental health organisation in England over an 81-month period when different elements of a smokefree policy were implemented. We used negative binomial regression models to test associations between rates of fire and false alarm incidents and three hospital smokefree policy periods with mutual adjustment for occupied bed days: (1) an indoor policy which allowed disposable e-cigarettes; (2) a comprehensive policy which allowed disposable e-cigarettes; and (3) a comprehensive policy with all e-cigarette types allowed. We identified 90 fires and 200 false alarms. Fires decreased (incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.35, 95% CI: 0.17–0.72, p = 0.004) and false alarms increased (IRR: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.02–2.76, p = 0.043), each by approximately two-thirds, when all e-cigarette types were allowed, after adjusting for bed occupancy and the comprehensive smokefree policy. Implementation of smokefree policies in mental health care settings that support use of all types of e-cigarettes may reduce fire risks, though measures to minimise effects of e-cigarette vapour on smoke detector systems may be needed to reduce false alarm incidents.

Keywords: mental health; smoking; e-cigarettes; fires (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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