Safety

Beyond architectural needs, CADD drawings can help you comply with fire protection requirements

Hospital Safety Connection, September 30, 2009

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With a few tweaks, your computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) drawings can also become effective compliance documents for life safety surveys.
 
You don’t need to be a CADD expert to make these adjustments, said James Murphy, RA, NCARB, president of architectural firm MRF, Ltd., in Western Springs, IL. Murphy was one of the featured presenters at HCPro’s Life Safety Code Solutions for Hospitals, which took place last week in Boston.
 
Surveyors and inspectors from The Joint Commission and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services love to see documentation, Murphy said. “You’ve got to be able to show them you’re maintaining compliance in a proactive way,” he said.
 
For example, CADD drawings of your suites should include notations about the area measurements of the suites, which are limited to 5,000 square ft. under the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code. This is good information to present to a surveyor during your life safety document review.
 
You can also add check boxes to next to fire protection equipment locations on your CADD drawings. For example, the boxes might be listed next to all of your fire extinguishers, which would allow someone to track monthly extinguisher inspections using the drawing and then enter that information into a spreadsheet as a tracking tool, Murphy said.



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