Resource Library

The performance of hazard surveillance rounds, as it relates to indoor air quality (IAQ), provides a key opportunity to identify IAQ issues. ASHE's “Indoor Air Quality Checklist Tool” can be used to supplement hazard surveillance rounds and incorporate items related to IAQ.

This checklist can help health care facilities inspect fire doors to ensure compliance with Joint Commission standard LS.02.01.10.

Taming building automation system alarm fatigue

Hospitals often rely on vendors for support and expertise to conduct code-specified inspections and testing of various systems. However, health facility managers may be unaware that some inspections and testing specified by code do not have to be conducted by a specially licensed or certified professional. Many of these procedures can be conducted in-house, such as fire doors and monthly fire extinguisher checks. However, many do not know that this category also includes firefighter elevator recall, fire/smoke damper testing, medical gas alarm panel testing and more.

This training video provides a brief explanation on how temperature and relative humidity affect one another. How to buy/build your own beaker set  

The ASHE CMS State Operations Manual Appendix A Crosswalk provides A-Tag information along with the related codes and standards applicable to the requirements for each A-Tag. To ensure that the tool is relevant to health care facility professionals, it focuses specifically on A-Tag requirements that affect the physical environment.

Health facility managers should start with an accurate inventory of all fire alarm and suppression devices to assure that the requirements are met. ASHE has created a sample template to track the inventory and compare it against testing completed throughout the year.

 

This document provides a comparison of the regulations applicable to most hospitals. It is important to verify the editions of the codes and standards that are applicable in your jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions may have adopted a different edition of the building code for construction. Many states have adopted other editions of the NFPA’s Life Safety Code®. For additional information, contact your state agency responsible for licensing hospitals.

This Useful Service Life (USL) Assessment Tool and Facilities Condition Index (FCI) Calculator tool will allow you to calculate your infrastructure health.

This tool can be used to assess operating rooms to determine whether they are wet procedure locations. The tool can be used to help comply with the 2012 edition of NFPA 99. The tool methodology is provided, and can be customized to meet the needs of various health care organizations. Download Tool    

The emergency power supply system (EPSS) is a critical hospital system, and its failure to function in a power outage can have tragic results. Not all authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) look at documentation of weekly inspections. Nonetheless, a weekly visual inspection is highly recommended. This checklist is based on charts in the Annex of the 2013 edition of NFPA 110: Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems.

A sprinkler system can be complex with many different zones and valves. Some of those valves may be easily to locate. Others may be in more obscure locations. If there is a inadvertent sprinkler activation, or when maintenance or system modifications are being performed, it is imperative that sprinkler system valves be properly identified and can be quickly located. There are many forms of documentation that can help manage this process including accurate drawings, valve charts, valve identification tags or labels or other documentation for the sprinkler system.