The basis for the requirements in this Article is that staff will be in attendance at all times on the same storey, either in each fire compartment or in a fire compartment immediately adjacent.
A long-term care home is intended to include skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities and some homes for the aged. Occupants of long-term care homes are assumed to be, for the most part, non-ambulatory. The use of physical restraints and tranquilizing drugs which may render occupants immobile are also factors which should be considered.
Although the age of patients by itself is not sufficient justification for a floor area to be included in a long-term care home occupancy, it should be recognized that many homes for the aged are in fact long-term care homes. The factor that determines whether or not a home for the aged is a long-term care home and, therefore, a care and treatment occupancy, is whether or not continuous nursing care is required for the occupants. Where continuous nursing care and treatment is not provided for the occupants, a home for the aged may be classified as either a care occupancy or a residential occupancy. If no care is provided to the residents, a home for the aged would normally be classified as a residential occupancy.