Safety Newsletters

Healthcare Life Safety Compliance Hospital Safety Center Medical Environment Update

Created exclusively for healthcare facility managers, plant operations professionals, and directors of engineering, this monthly 12-page, award-winning resource helps you comply with The Joint Commission’s Life Safety standards, NFPA codes, and related fire protection provisions. Written by Life Safety expert, Brad Keyes, CHSP, each issue is packed with analysis and advice on fire and life safety issues that’s easy to read and apply to your facility.

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Issue 10, September 14, 2017

• Fire safety: CMS clarifies smoke and fire door inspections, gives hospitals more compliance time

  If you haven’t completed your facility’s annual smoke and fire door testing, as...

• CMS clamps down on missed Life Safety Code violations

  You haven’t been seeing things. Surveyors with several accreditation organizations (AO) have...

• Drug diversion prevention: Regulatory requirements and best practices

  In many cases, the expectations of regulatory and accreditation authorities are not explicit in...

Issue 9, August 31, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Your parking lot speaks volumes about your hospital's compliance

  What do your hospital’s parking facilities say about your security and compliance with life...

• Patient room doors, sprinkler pressure gauges, and environmental tours

  Patient room doors in a suite, sleep labs, environmental tours, and more: Brad Keyes, CHSP...

• NFPA works on new active shooter standard

  Just over a year after the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub—one of the deadliest...

• Joint Commission exec explains new standards and elements of performance

  George Mills, MBA, FASHE, CEM, CHFM, CHSP, outgoing director of engineering for The Joint...

• Lessons in fire barrier management

  Part of your everyday job as a hospital safety professional or engineer is dealing with the issue...

Issue 8, July 28, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Joint Commission issues clarifications on ED classifications, doors, and fire drills

  The Joint Commission has issued clarifications on some subjects that should help hospitals...

• NFPA rejects effort to stop smoke compartment increase in patient rooms

  Members of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently preserved an upcoming code...

• Obstructions, toaster ovens, and exit doors

  Each month, Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about...

• Q&A: Former Joint Commission exec offers emergency management guidance

  Susan McLaughlin, MBA, FASHE, CHFM, CHSP, chief operating officer for MSL Healthcare Partners, is...

• What the 2012 Life Safety Code® says about fire door inspections

  For the most part, fire-rated door assemblies do operate as designed, but many surveyors seem to...

Issue 7, June 29, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• NIOSH studying PPE storage methods

  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is requesting information about...

• It don’t mean a thing if that door doesn’t swing

  Each month, Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about...

• ASPR updates emergency preparedness rule compliance resource

   The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), a department...

• Study: Robotic instruments may be impossible to clean

  As if the healthcare world needed anything else to worry about when it comes to disinfection, a...

Issue 6, May 25, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Time to get your fire door inspections and emergency drills completed

  If you’re one of many hospital safety personnel and engineers who struggle every year trying...

• Joint Commission will make changes to EC and LS chapters in early 2018

  As if there aren’t enough changes to your job coming down the pike this year, get ready for...

• Fire door assemblies, stairwell carpeting, and business occupancy fire drills

  Each month, Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about...

• OSHA looks to states for workplace violence prevention ideas

  A standard that took effect in California in April specifies steps that employers of healthcare...

Issue 5, April 28, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• ASHE issues power resiliency monograph

  Hospitals have a lot of work to do when it comes to ensuring they’re ready to avoid power...

• Sentinel Event Alert focuses on leadership's role in culture of safety

  The Joint Commission is encouraging hospitals to promote and sustain a culture of leadership in...

• Fire door assemblies, stairwell carpeting, and business occupancy fire drills

  Each month, Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about...

• EPA hazardous waste regs still loom ahead

  It’s a new day now. Some of us are happy with the results of the presidential election, some...

Issue 4, March 30, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• CMS interpretation finds that EDs are healthcare occupancies

  In a rather surprising interpretation by CMS, all hospital emergency departments (ED) are now...

• Deadbolt locks, fire door inspections, and elopement risk

  Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about life safety...

• How CMS and the EPA will change your job in 2017

  The year 2017 is barely a third of the way through, and if you don’t think it’s been a...

• Survey: Hospitals build for efficiency, safety

  Hospitals looking to expand their old buildings as well as add new facilities are increasingly...

Issue 2, February 27, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Surviving and protecting your facility in the event of an active shooter incident

  Author Lisa Pryse Terry discusses the importance of training and protocols to help your staff...

• Active shooter protocol helps save lives

  As active shooter incidents in U.S. facilities and hospitals become more of a threat to healthcare...

• Making sense of the new Life Safety Code®

  Life safety consultant expert Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner and senior consultant for Keyes Life Safety...

• Fire door testing, occupancy classification, and means of egress

  Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about life safety...

• The skinny on door locks

  In this excerpt from HCPro’s The New Life Safety Code®: How to Prepare in Advance, author...

Issue 1, January 31, 2017 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• How to prevent The Joint Commission's top Life Safety findings

  Take some advice from an expert who’s seen it all and knows what the surveyors look for

• California quake preparation nears completion

  State law says hospitals must stay standing; here’s how they’re doing and lessons you...

• Fire pump tests, sprinkler height requirements, and wedging doors closed in emergencies

  Each month, Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about...

• HLSC 2016 index

  The HLSC index for 2016.