Indiana Nursing Homes

Indiana nursing home residents are at risk of death and injury by fire due to inadequate fire safety protection in our state’s nursing homes.

Unbelievably, Indiana laws and regulations do not require all nursing homes to be fully sprinklered and to have smoke detectors in resident rooms – two of the most basic fire safety measures.

1. Nursing homes before 1986 do not have to have automatic sprinkler systems. Twenty-seven (27) homes in Indiana are NOT fully sprinklered. In fact, 10 of those homes are completely unsprinklered!

1. Even though most fires start in residents' rooms and the leading cause of death from fire is smoke inhalation, approximately 95% of Indiana nursing homes do not have to install smoke detectors in a resident’s room. Nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to harm from fires due to physical and mental disabilities that limit their ability to run, walk, or even follow instructions in an emergency.

Call on your state legislators to pass Senate Bill 93 & House Bill 1243 which would:

• Require all nursing homes to have an automatic sprinkler system throughout the facility within 5 years.

• Require smoke detectors in each nursing home resident’s room.

• Require the state department of health to include information for consumers on their website about whether a facility is sprinklered and what type of smoke detector it has if any (hardwired or battery operated).

Source: United Senior Action