What good is going the extra mile if you’re already at your destination?
In the past, we’ve talked about the various advocacy groups working on behalf of healthcare facilities and safety professionals, and certainly, the most prominent among those groups are the good folks at the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE). I don’t know how closely you follow the doings at ASHE, but there are a couple of recent items that I wanted to bring to your attention as they are likely to have some bearing on the future state of healthcare facilities and those who maintain them (using “maintain” in the broadest possible terms).
First up, we have the question of periodic inspection of concealed sprinkler heads. The beauty of concealed sprinkler heads is that they blend in with the surrounding environment to provide protection while also providing a more pleasing aesthetic. But this pleasing aesthetic means that the inspection of the sprinkler heads contained therein is more of a challenge than the typical pendant heads (of course, concealed heads aren’t as prone to the visible collection of gray fibrous matter). But, as part of any life safety system, there is a prescribed process, including frequency, for that inspection. To that end, the folks at ASHE are coordinating the collection of data with the aim of providing the (other good) folks at NFPA a means of developing a practical method for ensuring that concealed sprinkler heads remain functional that balances the concerns of safety and considerations of cost and end effort in ensuring compliance. As with any data set, the more detailed the information available upon which decisions can be made, the better, so I would encourage you to check this out and participate to the extent possible. It will be for the benefit of all.
The other process in which ASHE plays an important role is its membership in NFPA’s Healthcare Interpretation Task Force (HITF), which met in Orlando back in June at the annual NFPA Conference. The HITF discussed a number of topics, including means of egress for building equipment rooms, storage alcoves in exit access corridors, and delayed egress system overrides, as well as questions about managing physical environment safety for people incapable of self-preservation and placement of alcohol-based hand rub dispensers (yes, you can have one in the corridor outside a patient room and one inside the patient room without running afoul of the 48-inch horizontal separation requirements outlined in NFPA 101-2012). I think you’ll find a review of the minutes a quick means of learning about the process as well as what interpretations are in the regulatory pipeline.
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.