Fold-down Charting Stations in Corridors

What is The Joint Commission’s position on the use of springloaded, fold-down charting stations installed in corridors outside patient rooms? Are these a violation of the NFPA Life Safety Code, Section 7.1.10?

Some hospitals have wall-mounted charting stations on their medical/surgical floors. These writing surfaces pull down to a horizontal position for annotating patient charts. If the retracting mechanism fails or is overridden (for example, if a copy of the Physician Desk Reference on the charting surface keeps the wall-mounted unit in the down position), these stations obviously pose a threat to the free and unobstructed use of the corridor for emergency evacuation (as per your NFPA reference). The Joint Commission has no objection to the use of these self-retracting fold-down charting stations unless staff members leave them down after use. If the charting stations are in an upright position and do not project into the corridor more than 6 inches, these stations do not obstruct the hallway and are considered appropriate.


From February 2012 EC News