Highlights of the New Life Safety Chapter:
- The new chapter is an extraction of basic elements from the Life Safety Code so that CMS and TJC survey results will be reported consistently.
- Many of the Elements of Performance in the new chapter are required in the current EC.5.20 and SOC Part 3.
- Organizations will still submit the eSOC with Basic Building Information and any Plans for Improvement.
Healthcare facilities must also comply with NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities. This standard is undergoing major revisions to combine and streamline requirements. NFPA members are expected to vote on the new document at the 2009 NFPA meeting in Chicago.
Train Hospital Staff
Knowing what to do during a fire emergency is just as fundamental as the fire notification system itself. Patient safety is the primary consideration. Healthcare staff must be prepared to respond if a fire breaks outs. Each facility needs to implement and train its staff in an emergency plan of action. Plans should include the staff knowing the location of fire alarms and fire extinguishers and how to operate them, how to shut off oxygen machines and other compressed gas systems, and how to move patients safely and quickly, if necessary.
Mike Menzel, manager of plant operations for Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, attributes the safety of patients and staff to a strict adherence to fire-protection codes, by-the-book installations and a commitment to maintenance and training. With continual testing of equipment and repeated practice by the entire hospital staff, Menzel and his crew provide a safe facility where physicians and researchers can concentrate on developing other types of life-saving techniques.
“Through our insurance company, we developed a system that adheres to NFPA 25 [Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems] standards,” says Menzel. “We test every flow switch quarterly and inspect all the valves monthly. On the fire alarm system, we adhere to NFPA 72.”
Although Menzel conforms to NFPA 25 and 72, two of the most common standards for ensuring life safety, it’s the scale of his operation that stands out. “We do all of our own maintenance,” says Menzel. “I have two electricians and two plumbers in charge of that. They spend about three weeks out of a month just doing maintenance and testing. The other week of the month is usually taken up by fire marshal inspections, shut downs and other contractor requests.”
Menzel attributes Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s exemplary safety record to all staff members. “We have more than 400 fire drills every year. Every quarter, for every shift, we have a drill for each of the patient divisions,” he says. “So that means you have two shifts a day multiplied by 50 patient divisions. Then you figure in the ambulatory-care buildings that we drill four times each year. Plus, all the business groups are drilled annually.”
Along with the plant operations team, several others are involved in this campus-wide effort. “The hospital put together a team of 10 people from security, facility engineering and safety for the fire drills,” Menzel explains. “We are now set up so that we talk to each other when there will be work on the system. The security department manages the monitoring about four blocks from here because we’re mandated to have offsite monitoring of our system. All of our buildings’ systems report to that location.”
