By Robert Trotter, CBO, CFM
Egress doors in existing healthcare occupancies should comply with the 2000 edition of NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code® section 19.2.3.5 which states, “The minimum clear width for doors in the means of egress from hospitals; nursing homes; limited care facilities; psychiatric hospital sleeping rooms; and diagnostic and treatment areas, such as x-ray, surgery, or physical therapy, shall be not less than 32 in. wide.” There is an exception for existing 34-inch doors, and existing 28-inch corridor doors in facilities where the fire plans do not require evacuation by bed, gurney, or wheelchair. Excluding any of the four exceptions, egress doors in new healthcare occupancies must meet the requirements prescribed in 18.2.3.5. The minimum clear width for doors in the means of egress from sleeping rooms, diagnostic and treatment areas, such as x-ray, surgery, or physical therapy, and nursery rooms in hospitals and nursing homes is 41.5 inches and 32 inches in psychiatric hospitals and limited care facilities.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Compliance News: Access to Electrical Switchboards
By Robert Trotter, CBO, CFM
Electrical wiring and equipment are required by NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code® to be in accordance with the 1999 edition of NFPA 70, National Electrical Code. While there are specific requirements for access to electrical switchboards, here is an overview of the requirements. Sufficient access and working space should be provided and maintained about all electric equipment to permit ready and safe operation and maintenance of such equipment. The depth of the working space in the direction of access to live parts should not be less than 36 inches and the width of the working space in front of the electric equipment should be the width of the equipment or 30 inches, whichever is greater. The work space should be clear and extend from the grade, floor, or platform to the minimum height of six and one-half feet. The working space required by the NEC is not permitted to be used for storage (as pictured).
Electrical wiring and equipment are required by NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code® to be in accordance with the 1999 edition of NFPA 70, National Electrical Code. While there are specific requirements for access to electrical switchboards, here is an overview of the requirements. Sufficient access and working space should be provided and maintained about all electric equipment to permit ready and safe operation and maintenance of such equipment. The depth of the working space in the direction of access to live parts should not be less than 36 inches and the width of the working space in front of the electric equipment should be the width of the equipment or 30 inches, whichever is greater. The work space should be clear and extend from the grade, floor, or platform to the minimum height of six and one-half feet. The working space required by the NEC is not permitted to be used for storage (as pictured).
Compliance News: Smoke Alarms in Doctors’ Sleeping Rooms
By Pete Kendrick, CHFM, CPMM
As part of the preparations for your next The Joint Commission survey, you may have decided to claim several occupancy classifications in accordance with NFPA 101® (2000 Edition) Sections 18/19.1.1.1.4 which state in part that, in the opinion of the governing body of the facility and the agency having jurisdiction, if patients or visitors are capable of self-preservation, sections of the building can comply with other occupancy chapters. Besides ambulatory, business, and assembly, what other occupancies need to be considered?
If you have doctors’ sleeping rooms, do you know if they are equipped with approved single-station smoke alarms? Such rooms are required to meet a small section of some other chapters you possibly aren’t familiar with. Open your NFPA 101® to Chapter 26, Lodging and Rooming Houses. You may not know it but you might actually be the proprietor of a rooming house. Look at 26.1.1.1, which states that, “This chapter applies to buildings that provide sleeping accommodations for a total of 16 or fewer persons on either a transient or permanent basis, with or without meals, but with separate cooking facilities for individual occupants…” Does this apply to your doctors’ sleeping rooms? Probably.
As part of the preparations for your next The Joint Commission survey, you may have decided to claim several occupancy classifications in accordance with NFPA 101® (2000 Edition) Sections 18/19.1.1.1.4 which state in part that, in the opinion of the governing body of the facility and the agency having jurisdiction, if patients or visitors are capable of self-preservation, sections of the building can comply with other occupancy chapters. Besides ambulatory, business, and assembly, what other occupancies need to be considered?
If you have doctors’ sleeping rooms, do you know if they are equipped with approved single-station smoke alarms? Such rooms are required to meet a small section of some other chapters you possibly aren’t familiar with. Open your NFPA 101® to Chapter 26, Lodging and Rooming Houses. You may not know it but you might actually be the proprietor of a rooming house. Look at 26.1.1.1, which states that, “This chapter applies to buildings that provide sleeping accommodations for a total of 16 or fewer persons on either a transient or permanent basis, with or without meals, but with separate cooking facilities for individual occupants…” Does this apply to your doctors’ sleeping rooms? Probably.
Compliance News: Maintaining Smoke Barriers
By Dean Samet, CHSP
Smoke barriers serve a very important purpose, especially in healthcare occupancies. During a fire, protection of patients and staff is of paramount concern. If possible, patients intimate with the fire should be moved to safety immediately. For others, “defending patients in place” is often the first step in a number of actions established to keep patients out of harm’s way from a fire and the products of combustion. If and when it is determined that patients must be evacuated to an area of safe refuge, it is typically horizontally, on the same floor level, through smoke barriers to an adjacent smoke compartment. If the fire escalates, patients may have to be relocated from that smoke compartment or floor and moved vertically via stairs or elevators (if possible and permitted).
Smoke barriers serve a very important purpose, especially in healthcare occupancies. During a fire, protection of patients and staff is of paramount concern. If possible, patients intimate with the fire should be moved to safety immediately. For others, “defending patients in place” is often the first step in a number of actions established to keep patients out of harm’s way from a fire and the products of combustion. If and when it is determined that patients must be evacuated to an area of safe refuge, it is typically horizontally, on the same floor level, through smoke barriers to an adjacent smoke compartment. If the fire escalates, patients may have to be relocated from that smoke compartment or floor and moved vertically via stairs or elevators (if possible and permitted).
Compliance News: Det Norske Veritas Healthcare (DNVHC) Hospital Accreditation
By Dean Samet, CHSP
Effective September 26, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced their decision to approve Det Norske Veritas Healthcare, Inc. (DNVHC) for recognition as a national accreditation organization for hospitals seeking to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. This has provided another alternative for roughly 80% or more of the country’s hospitals that have looked primarily to The Joint Commission (TJC) for their hospital accreditation for over 50 years.
Accreditation by an accreditation organization is voluntary and is not required for Medicareparticipation. A hospital may opt for routine surveys by a state survey agency to determine whether it meets the Medicare requirements.
Effective September 26, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced their decision to approve Det Norske Veritas Healthcare, Inc. (DNVHC) for recognition as a national accreditation organization for hospitals seeking to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. This has provided another alternative for roughly 80% or more of the country’s hospitals that have looked primarily to The Joint Commission (TJC) for their hospital accreditation for over 50 years.
Accreditation by an accreditation organization is voluntary and is not required for Medicareparticipation. A hospital may opt for routine surveys by a state survey agency to determine whether it meets the Medicare requirements.
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