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Q&A: Power outages and the 96-hour rule

Emergency Management Alert, February 12, 2008

When the following question came over the wire, we consulted  HCPro contributor Patrick Wade, director of public safety at St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino, CA, who has successfully managed safety and security through at least eight power outages. Next month, Wade will host an HCPro audioconference, "The 96-Hour Rule: Will your facility's emergency plan hold up?" with emergency planning experts Peg Luebbert, MS, MT(ASCP),CHSP and former Joint Commission Vice President Joe Cappiello.

Q: How would emergency managers amend current plans to prepare for a power outage--while still complying with the 96-hour rule?

A: On an extended power outage you need to watch the generator fuel supply and have some backup process for those areas of the operation that are not required to have generator power-such as the business office, administration, engineering-but that need to continue to operate. Are those operations computer dependent? Wall-hung emergency lights will operate only until the batteries run down. Fire alarm systems are on battery backup until they run down. They are designed to provide backup protection for the fire alarm system until the building can be evacuated. So if you have a mobilization center (MOB) that loses power, and the fire alarm system shuts down, you'll need to close the building, even though it might be daylight and you're able to provide limited patient services. So in this situation, the 96-hour rule becomes the 4-hour rule, provided the batteries are maintained; otherwise it may be the 1-hour rule.

I will tell you from experience that many property management companies do not test the emergency lights in the stairwells or properly maintain the backup batteries in the fire alarm systems.

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