You might find this shocking: NFPA 99 and essential electrical systems

This one should be relatively brief, but then I almost always think that when I start a post. I guess we’ll see…

Recently, I’ve seen some survey activity that prompts me to chat a little bit about essential electrical systems (EES) and to provide you with a source of information in that regard. The survey findings have related to the connection of inappropriate equipment to a branch of the EES or an inappropriate branch of the EES being used to provide power to equipment (kind of two sides of the same coin). So, the breakdown goes a little something like this:

• Life safety branch: Provides power to systems that ensure the safety of occupants during an emergency, such as emergency lighting, fire detection, alarm systems, communication systems, and exit signs to facilitate safe evacuation. This branch must receive power restoration within 10 seconds of a power outage.
• Critical branch: Supplies power to areas and equipment for patient care and treatment. These include critical care areas, operating rooms, intensive care units, life-support systems, monitoring systems, and other medical equipment and devices crucial to patient care. Like the life safety branch, the critical branch requires power restoration within 10 seconds.
• Equipment branch: Supplies power to equipment essential for the healthcare facility’s operational efficiency but does not directly affect patient care or safety. This branch includes components such as HVAC systems, sterilization equipment, and other essential operational equipment that support the hospital’s infrastructure. Power restoration for the equipment branch can be delayed by as much as a few minutes after restoring the critical and life safety branches.

Sometimes fire alarm equipment is tied into the critical branch, or a piece of HVAC equipment could be tied into the life safety branch. This can be due to a flaw in initial setup, a flaw in reading the design documents, or a flaw in equipment connected after the initial design and installation of the EES—it can be tough to figure out how something came to be. Anything like that, if found during a survey (and it appears that there are at least a few surveyors who are kicking the tires on electrical distribution), it would almost certainly be a finding (and probably not one that you could correct during the survey). To that end, it might be a good idea to have your favorite electrician do some pre-survey inspecting to make sure that everything is as it should be.

And, if you want to read up (or learn more as part of a formal education process), you would do well to check out the Motor and Generator Institute’s blog. The blog post covers some of the ins and outs of Essential Electrical Systems and provides the opportunity to pursue certification in the field of healthcare emergency power. Power is rarely more important than it is in healthcare—don’t leave something so important to chance!

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.