Many hospitals conduct their emergency power supply system (EPSS) tests at the start of the day, such as just before the first shift commences. This is when most of the operating rooms are not yet occupied for the day.
Another option is in the afternoon, either immediately after lunch or later that afternoon. Testing at the end of the lunch period, however, may conflict with the hospital's patient focus. This early afternoon test may be problematic due to the hospital's concern about avoiding elevator recalls when there is a high visitor population riding the elevators.
Some hospitals schedule EPSS testing for the third shift, or nighttime. This approach can minimize the impact of the testing on daytime hospital operations, but may become problematic when equipment failures occur during the test and the full daytime shift complement of operations and maintenance personnel are not yet on duty to deal with the failure expeditiously.
For additional discussion, including a detailed discussion of the common effects of monthly EPSS testing in hospitals, refer to my 2009 ASHE Management Monograph “Managing Hospital Emergency Power Systems – Testing, Operation, Maintenance and Power Failure Planning” that can be obtained directly from ASHE at http://www.ashe.org/resources/management_monographs/mg2009stymiest.html.
IMPORTANT NFPA DISCLAIMER: Although the author is Chair of the NFPA Technical Committee on Emergency Power Supplies, which is responsible for NFPA 110 and 111, the views and opinions expressed in this message are purely those of the author and shall not be considered the official position of NFPA or any of its Technical Committees and shall not be considered to be, nor be relied upon as, a Formal Interpretation. Readers are encouraged to refer to the entire text of all referenced documents. NFPA members can obtain NFPA staff interpretations at http://www.nfpa.org/.
