All Entries in the "Life Safety Code" Category

ASHE may have “had it up to here” with CMS when it comes to damper testing

You can really sense the frustration that ASHE — and more precisely, that of Deputy Executive Director Doug Erickson — has with CMS these days. Just read the latest ASHE bulletin to its members about six-year damper testing and you’ll feel the bad vibes. [more]

Alarm transmission options are tight when it comes to fire drill requirements

There was discussion swirling this week on HCPro’s Patient Safety Talk group about whether folks are required to actually pull the fire alarm during a fire drill.

Unfortunately this is not quite as clear-cut as one would want, though perhaps [more]

New fall seminars about life safety and emergency management

We’re happy to announce two brand new professional development seminars that will focus on the hot topics of Life Safety Code compliance and emergency managment: [more]

Immediate threats to life, Joint Commission style

During a keynote at the ASHE conference this afternoon, George Mills, senior engineer at The Joint Commission, outlined four immediate threats to life in the physical environment that tie into the top tier of criticality scoring: [more]

From ASHE: The ‘E’ in RACE is debated

The ASHE conference in Anaheim, CA, is in full swing now. I was at an interesting session this morning where the speaker said it’s time for the E in RACE to get away from “extinguish,” particularly with nurses.

Money spent on training nurses on extinguisher use would be better spent on intalling better sprinkler protection or smoke detection, said Frank Van Overmeiren, president of FP&C Consultants in Indianpolis. More updates later.

Don’t trust rated fire doors with visible damage

I was on a chat group recently and someone asked about a center stairwell door with a broken wood strip on the edge and fire insulation foam showing.

A strict code interpretation says [more]

BMP and a tale of hiding in plain sight

Over the past few weeks, in doing client work, a number of folks have been bemoaning the departure of The Joint Commission’s building maintenance program (BMP) as a means of ensuring Life Safety Code compliance.

And of course there have been rumors of the BMP returning, [more]

ASHE: You need to file waivers with CMS for six-year damper tests

ASHE sent a notice to its members Friday indicating that if hospitals want to observe six-year damper testing — as allowed by The Joint Commmission and the 2007 editions of NFPA 80, Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, and NFPA 105, Installation of Smoke Door Assemblies — they’ll need to apply for a waiver from CMS.

CMS doesn’t formally recognize the six-year frequencies, due to the fact the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code, which CMS enforces, references older editions of NFPA 80 and 105, ASHE said.

I’ll try to get confirmation about this from CMS, but I have no reason to doubt what ASHE is saying. The full notice is only available to ASHE members.

Watch out for the ‘E’ in your RACE procedures

As you probably know, the RACE acronym standards for Rescue, Alarm, Confine, and Extinguish/Evacuate.

That last part about what exactly “E” stands for may have some bearing on how surveyors [more]

ILSMs are more than just construction project buffers

The practical application of interim life safety measures (ILSM) does not begin and end with construction or renovation projects. Rather, ILSMs should be considered (not necessarily implemented) for Life Safety Code (LSC) deficiencies in general.

Any time you have an LSC deficiency, [more]