The introduction of new fire safety regulations including mandatory automatic sprinklers for Ontario’s retirement homes is a welcome step towards ensuring the safety and well-being of the approximately 51,000 seniors who live in retirement homes in the province, says the Ontario Retirement Communities Association (ORCA).

“Today’s announcement is about celebrating the positive results of a collaborative process that put seniors first and recognized the need for a flexible and phased-in retrofit process for retirement homes in Ontario,” says Laurie Johnston, CEO of ORCA. “As the provincial association representing more than 80 per cent of Ontario’s retirement community sector, we believe that expanding important fire safety measures for all retirement homes is simply the right thing to do.”

ORCA’s active involvement in the fire safety technical consultations and efforts to work collaboratively with government and other stakeholders on this important issue will help bring peace of mind to the thousands of seniors who live in retirement homes in the province.

While sprinklers have been mandatory for homes built after 1998, homes built prior to 1998 are now subject to phased-in mandatory sprinkler retrofitting. In addition, the regulations require all retirement homes to adopt additional fire safety features such as automatic door closures and adequate smoke detection systems for those not currently equipped.

“We are pleased that government and stakeholders have come together to develop regulations that respect the need for different sprinkler and retrofit solutions based on the size and location of retirement homes,” adds Ms. Johnston. The association is now turning its attention to supporting sector-wide education and ensuring that it remains an important stakeholder when it comes to ongoing fire safety efforts in the sector.

“Our hope is to work in close partnership with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office to develop and roll out meaningful education to support our members’ compliance with new regulations,” says Ms. Johnston. “We will also continue to explore with government ways we can support unfunded retirement homes facing extraordinary cost pressures associated with building retrofits.”

FACTS:

  • ORCA is a non-profit voluntary organization representing over 80 per cent of the regulated retirement home sector in Ontario.
  • ORCA was one of the vulnerable occupancy stakeholders that participated in the Technical Advisory Committee consultations and contributed to the development of the regulations.
  • ORCA’s 455 member homes represent more than 42,000 retirement home suites. There are approximately 680 licensed retirement homes and 51,000 total suites in Ontario.
  • Retirement homes are not publicly funded and do not enjoy the same level of access to capital and development support available to other vulnerable occupancy operators. Funding announced to support long-term care fire safety retrofit costs does not apply to retirement homes.

View the press release in PDF form.

View the Government Announcement.

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