Have yourself a merry little…
In one of those bizarre moments, I was looking at this week’s missive from the good folks at ASHE when I espied the following headline: “Window closing to comply with CMS sprinkler requirement.” My first thought was, what does closing a window have to do with CMS and sprinkler requirements? I will also admit that there was a brief moment of panic in that I had somehow missed a transition or a memorandum or some such, but as I read on, I saw that the article deals with the requirement for high-rise healthcare occupancies to be fully sprinklered by July 5, 2028. Now, I can remember when 2025 seemed a long way away (a couple of months ago, even) and I know that the same could be said for July 5, 2028. As a point of information, the Life Safety Code® defines high-rise buildings as “a building where the floor of an occupiable story is greater than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access.” Certainly, not every healthcare organization is going to fall into this category, but there are a number that will, so, to those folks I ask this: where are you in the planning process for compliance with this requirement? (And, no, I won’t count “praying that they delay implementation” as part of the planning process). I will let you ponder the details of the article to cover the intricacies of what this might represent to you and your organization.
Again, hoping for a delay is probably not what one would consider a “best-laid” plan; there are a lot of moving parts: sprinklers, tying into the fire alarm system, installation, inspection, testing and maintenance. This is potentially a very big deal and there’s no reason to think that this window is going to close any slower than the window for your next accreditation survey (talk about fast and furious!) Don’t find yourself in August 2028 wishing you had started the process sooner.
Speaking of the good works of ASHE, they host a series of videos on YouTube, and this one might give you some thoughts on the best strategy for 2025 holiday decorating tips.
As a note to close out the 2024 blogosphere, I want to take a moment to wish each of you and yours a most joyous holiday season and to thank you for hanging out with me in this space. It—and you—mean the world to me.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Chartis Group. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is an advisory board member for Accreditation and Quality Compliance Center. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.