Following a devastating fire that destroyed its original facilities, St Jude's Hospital in St Lucia has been rebuilt with an enhanced life safety system. Hochiki partnered with Rayneau to deliver a networked Latitude panel and ESP addressable devices across the hospital's varied and specialised wings.
.png?width=2000&height=1000&name=st-judes-hero-2000px%20(1).png)
Hospitals deliver life-saving care to thousands of patients every day, often serving the most vulnerable and providing the most complex treatments. To ensure the highest level of protection at St Judes Hospital following its reconstruction and expansion, Hochiki partnered with Rayneau, part of the RG Group, to deliver an easy-to-use, enhanced life safety system requested by the Government of St Lucia. Hochiki's Latitude panel, networked with ESP devices, was installed across the varied sections of this two-storey medical facility.
The St Judes site includes various, specialised wings for 24/7 medical treatment. The east wing consists of orthopaedic services, ophthalmology, dental operations and a pharmacy.
Other areas within the hospital include two volunteer spaces, a gym, a church, warehouses, and maintenance rooms.
Expanding from its previous infrastructure, additional services were also added to the existing wings to enhance the quality of healthcare services for the local area. This included new operating theatres, a physiotherapy centre and a dialysis support unit to help accommodate and treat complex conditions. With this extensive number of services available, a high level of protection was crucial to ensure all-round safety for staff and patients.
Hochiki’s ESP intelligent fire detection range was chosen as the main technology for this new system, with each device able to be tailored to its unique location and environmental conditions, to reduce the susceptibility to false alarms.
An open protocol system, Hochiki's ESP was deemed the best possible solution for the hospital, providing future-proof protection for its facilities as the site continues to expand. Cost-effective and flexible, an open protocol system can help reduce costs in the long-term, ensuring sites like St Judes can direct more funding towards essential research and development.
Hochiki's ESP addressable range provides pinpoint identification, enabling both emergency services and building occupants to quickly locate the activated device, ensuring swift and appropriate action. A particularly crucial consideration for the number of bed-bound individuals who would require assisted evacuation away from this two-storey building.
Smoke sensors, such as the ALN-EN, were used throughout the hospital to provide a high level of false alarm immunity, its high-performance chamber being able to easily distinguish between actual fire fumes and dust particles, reducing any unnecessary disruption. Each indivuidual sensor's sensitivity was also adjusted to minimise the susceptibility of nuisance alarms based on its location.
The ATJ-EN heat sensor, incorporating both a Rate of Rise and Fixed Temperature element to make comprehensive fire decisions, was specified for the maintenance rooms. In this type of location, where substantial amounts of cabling and materials are present that could contribute to the rapid spread a fire, heat sensors are crucial.
Hochiki's addressable base sounders and wall sounders were also installed to provide an audible alert to all building occupants in any emergency. Each device can produce 51 selectable tones with a maximum output of 98dB(A), to assist in instant notification and efficient evacuation.
_plan.png?width=500&height=503&name=ATJ-EN(WHT)_plan.png)
All of the intelligent ESP devices were connected into a five-panel network, with two 6-loop Hochiki Latitude panels at its heart. The network was further enhanced with 11 Latitude Vision repeaters panels, strategically located at entrances and nursing stations, allowing the system to be easily monitored or controlled in the event of emergencies. With Latitude's intuitive interface, all staff are able to operate the panel confidently during an emergency. The Latitude's networking capabilities can ensure that 127 nodes (panels or repeaters) in total can be networked, so as the hospital expands, its fire detection system can also continue to evolve.
Latitude provides a comprehensive, long-term life safety solution for complex applications. Its seamless compatibility with existing systems ensures the panel is fully customisable to each application's individual needs. Supporting over 10,000 entry event log records, the panel provides secure memory storage, ensuring all events are saved for maintenance purposes, even when the power is disconnected.