Compliance News: Holiday Decorations

Compliance News:  Holiday Decorations 

by Robert Trotter, BS, MCP and David Stymiest, PE, CHFM, CHSP, FASHE

Many of this newsletter’s readers are regularly confronted with questions concerning holiday decorations. The Joint Commission’s 2012 Hospital Accreditation Standards, Standard LS.02.01.70 EP-1 states: “The hospital prohibits all combustible decorations that are not flame retardant. (For full text and any exceptions, refer to NFPA 101-2000: 18/19.7.5.4.)”

In NFPA 101-2000®, paragraph 18/19.7.5.4 states “Combustible decorations shall be prohibited in any health care occupancy unless they are flame-retardant. Exception: Combustible decorations, such as photographs and paintings, in such limited quantities that a hazard of fire development or spread is not present.”

Compliance News: ECRI Institute Lists 2013's Top 10 Health Technology Hazards

Compliance News:  ECRI Institute Lists 2013's Top 10 Health Technology Hazards 

by David Stymiest, PE, CHFM, CHSP, FASHE

The ECRI Institute recently published a 25-page special report entitled “ECRI Institute 2013 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards” – available at www.ecri.org/2013hazards. In its introduction, ECRI encourages facilities to use the list of generic hazards as a “starting point for patient safety discussions and for setting their health technology safety priorities.” This report is comprehensive with a multitude of useful recommendations along with exhaustive lists of further reference publications. We recommend that our readers use the link above to acquire their own copies of the ECRI publication for review and possible action.

ECRI stated that it considered a number of factors in determining which hazards actually made it to the top 10 list, including potential for harm, frequency/likelihood of the hazard, how widespread is the hazard, whether the problem is difficult to recognize or challenging to rectify, and whether the hazard has a high profile in the media.