The union representing workers says the issue should serve as a "wake-up call" for the government and is calling for an urgent inquiry into the safety of the government’s health buildings.
A Wakari staff member, who declined to be named, said part of the hospital’s fire alarm system had not been working on Helensburgh House for some time and it was only discovered when a delivery truck accidentally backed into an outdoor fire-hose valve.
Helensburgh House contains Ward 11, for patients who are intellectually disabled.
The staff member said it also contained Southern Community Mental Health team offices and some administration offices.
"About three or four weeks ago, a delivery truck reversed into the fire hose outside the building and [security contractor] Chubb came around to have a look at that, and they found out that the whole fire system for the whole building wasn’t working and hadn’t been working for a very long time.
"It effectively means that if there was a fire, the alarm would have not sounded; the doors on the locked wards would not have opened."
No-one in the building was aware the fire response system was not working, the whistleblower said.
"We don’t know who the contractor was that reversed into it, but this accident actually exposed a massive risk to life in the building."
Health New Zealand Te Waipounamu regional director of infrastructure Rob Ojala confirmed it had identified an issue with the smoke detection and evacuation panel notification systems at Helensburgh House on March 30.
"We immediately put in place an interim fire and emergency response plan and updated evacuation plan to ensure the safety of our staff and patients."
This had been communicated to all relevant staff, including security staff, mental health and addiction after-hours co-ordinators and ward managers and had been overseen by HNZ’s national chief fire safety officer, he said.
Appropriate signs had been put up to inform anyone visiting the site after hours.
Signs had also been put on fire alarm call buttons to instruct people to manually call 111 in an emergency.
"We are working urgently to replace the systems as quickly as possible and have commissioned a contractor to undertake this work.
"This will include upgrading call points, smoke detectors, annunciators and remote-control units throughout the building, as well as the main fire panel."
The fire panels in Wakari Hospital’s wards 9A and 9B, which were due for replacement, had also recently been upgraded, he said.
Public Service Association national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said she wanted an urgent review of hospital buildings and increased investment in addressing safety in the wake of the Wakari Hospital incident.
The safety of patients and staff working in Helensburgh House was being put at risk because of issues with the fire alarm system.
"While HNZ has kept staff and their unions briefed on their response to the issues, the repair work needs to be progressed with more urgency."
The issues at Wakari were a wake up call.
"Hospital buildings across the country are in urgent need of repair and upgrade and the Government must prioritise this work."
Meanwhile, the Wakari staffer alleged Health NZ management had known the fire alarm system was past its "use-by" date, having been informed numerous times as part of fire inspections, but did not do anything about replacing it.
"They ignored the advice that the system was old and just carried on using it and when this contractor or delivery truck happened to reverse into the hose outside, that was when the whole thing came to light.
"The current fire procedure is basically some person running around screaming ‘fire, fire, fire, fire’ and then somebody tooting what looks like a clown horn to alert people."
