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Healthcare Life Safety Compliance

Issue 12, December 10, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Watch for door gap scrutiny, multiple concerns in 2009

  Seven tips to keep you ahead By now, most of you have had a chance to peruse The Joint...

• Weigh your risks when protecting electronic records

  Healthcare facilities protect paper medical records from fire by installing sprinkler systems and...

• Life safety citations play a big role in lingering struggle

  In an example of the long-term ramifications behind requirements for improvement (RFI) from The...

• Regarding smoke barriers, correct locations and opening protection become prime concerns

  Editor’s note: Each month in this column, staff members at fire protection consulting firm...

• Questions & answers

  Editor’s note: Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James K. Lathrop of fire protection...

Issue 11, November 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Space heater use to be more restrictive as of January 1

  With colder temperatures approaching, portable space heaters will start showing up on units and in...

• A primer on criticality and other 2009 scoring nuances

  The life safety standards will offer healthcare professionals plenty to digest when the standards...

• Know where your facility needs fire barriers and what ratings the barriers need to meet the LSC

  Compartmentation is one of the oldest forms of passive fire protection. Its basic concept involves...

• HLSC Q&A

  Editor’s note: Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James K. Lathrop of fire protection...

Issue 10, October 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Beware of fire door trouble

  In the September Healthcare Life Safety Compliance, we wrote about fire barriers as a fundamental...

• Consider forming a life safety committee soon

  Editor's note: We culled the following notebook items from presentations by George Mills, FASHE...

• State rebukes hospital about burned surgical patient

  Minnesota's Department of Health found a hospital didn't follow its own policies on preventing...

• Retrofitting sprinklers will cost nursing homes $846 million

  The five-year phase-in period established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS...

• NFPA 82 sets the rules for sprinklers and ratings related to your facility's limited access chutes

  Editor's note: Each month in this column, the staff at fire protection consulting firm Koffel...

• Questions & answers

  Editor's note: Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James K. Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm...

• With holidays looming, monitor decoration risks

  Some of you may dread the start of the fall holidays not because you don't enjoy them, but because...

Issue 9, September 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The Joint Commission now allows storage in dead ends

  Facility directors need to know about several new stances from The Joint Commission, George Mills...

• Note these pointers for barrier and wall requirements

  Various walls in your healthcare facility provide occupants with basic—yet...

• Check fire department connections every three months

  A provision in Joint Commission standard EC.5.40 requires facilities to conduct quarterly...

• HLSC Q&A

  Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James K. Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm Koffel...

Issue 8, August 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• 2009 life safety standards go online; Joint Commission engineer offers thoughts

  Just as this issue went to press, The Joint Commission posted online the final version of its new...

• Expect final nursing home sprinkler rule this summer

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has indicated that its final nursing home...

• Stay ahead of PFI snags and anticipate other problems

  Following up on a story we published in the July Healthcare Life Safety Compliance, we'll continue...

• Questions & Answers

  Editor's note: Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm...

Issue 7, July 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Avoid fire pump test snags and other common pitfalls during a survey

  Don't let simple fire protection slipups cost you a citation with surveyors. That was among the...

• New resource pushes teamwork to prevent surgical fires

  In April, surgical team members at a Houston hospital faced a fire in the midst of a procedure. A...

• Questions & Answers

  Editor's note: Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm...

Issue 6, June 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Joint Commission updates alarm transmission options

  The Joint Commission permits healthcare facilities to use five allowable methods to transmit fire...

• With interior finishes, know what values to watch for

  Depending on the material used, an interior finish can have a considerable effect on flame spread...

• Questions & Answers

  Editor's note: Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James K. Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm...

Issue 5, May 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Life safety specialists may arrive separately from the regular survey teams

  In a move that has not yet been publicized, The Joint Commission's life safety specialists...

• Smoking and clothes dryer problems lead to blazes, again

  Two fires in long-term care facilities-both of which had tragic results-stemmed from common risks...

• Questions & Answers

  Editor's note: Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm...

Issue 4, April 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Insurance reps detail the fire safety risks they watch for in your facility

  Recommendations from insurance companies can carry as much weight as mandates from entities such as...

• London hospital's fire response offers lessons for America

  In the absence of sprinkler protection, healthcare worker training and firefighter efforts proved...

• Questions & Answers

  Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm Koffel...

Issue 3, March 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Surveyors' focus may bend on occupancy classification

  Correctly classifying occupancies using the Life Safety Code® (LSC) may sound like an esoteric...

• ECRI Institute investigates an infant bassinet fire

  A fire that burned an infant in a bassinet at a Minnesota hospital may turn out to be a...

• Questions & Answers

  Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James K. Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm Koffel...

Issue 2, February 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Future life safety standards offer new guidance, but scoring remains a question

  The field review for the proposed standards closed on January 22. After considering received...

• LSC and other criteria will shape PFI completion dates

  If you've developed plans for improvement (PFI) to fix deficiencies, most life safety specialists...

• Questions & Answers

  Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm Koffel...

Issue 1, January 1, 2008 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Joint Commission's BMP may lose its influence in '09

  It's possible that by the time you read this article, The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) will...

• Life Safety Code® Boot Camp coverage

  The Life Safety Code® (LSC) touches on but doesn't detail elevator recall functions and...

• Follow-up story about conditional accreditation

  A hospital that entered into conditional accreditation status took a hands-on approach to...

• Questions & Answers

  Each month, Jennifer Frecker and James K. Lathrop of fire protection consulting firm Koffel...