| (VIII) Emergency water supply. Emergency potable water storage facilities shall be provided. The storage capacity shall not be less than 500 gallons or 12 gallons per licensed patient bed, whichever is greater. Capacity of hot water storage tanks may be included as part of the required emergency water capacity when valves and piping systems are arranged to make this water available at all times. When bottle water is used in lieu of water storage facilities, the hospital shall maintain and ensure the required amount of bottled water supply on hand at all times, maintain an inventory record which reflects the rotation and replacement of expired bottled water, and have adequate storage space on site that is readily accessible by staff in the event of an emergency. The hospital shall ensure the continued availability and delivery of bottled water until the emergency situation has concluded. (IX) Purified water supply system. Purified water distribution system piping shall be task specific and include, but not necessarily be limited to, Polypropylene (PP), Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe. Final installed purified water system piping assemblies shall be UL approved and fully comply with applicable American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Fire Resistant/Smoke Density requirements. The applicable documents are available from ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA, 19428-2959. (X) Dead-end piping. Dead-end piping (risers with no flow, branches with no fixture) shall not be installed. In any renovation work, dead-end piping shall be removed. Empty risers, mains and branches installed for future use are permitted. (ii) Fire sprinkler systems. Fire sprinkler systems shall be provided in hospitals as required by NFPA 101, §18.3.5. All fire sprinkler systems shall be designed, installed, and maintained in accordance with the requirements of NFPA 13, and shall be certified as required by §133.168(c)(1)(C) of this title (relating to Construction, Inspections, and Approval of Project). (iii) Nonflammable medical gas and clinical vacuum systems. Nonflammable medical gas and clinical vacuum system installations shall be designed, installed and certified in accordance with the requirements of NFPA 99, §5.1 for Level I systems and the requirements of this clause. (I) Outlets. Nonflammable medical gas and clinical vacuum outlets shall be provided in accordance with Table 6 of §133.169(f) of this title. (II) Installer qualifications. All installations of the medical gas piping systems shall be done only by, or under the direct supervision of a holder of a master plumber license or a journeyman plumber license with a medical gas piping installation endorsement issued by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. (III) Installer tests. Prior to closing of walls, the installer shall perform an initial pressure test, a blowdown test, a secondary pressure test, a cross-connection test, and a purge of the piping system as required by NFPA 99. (IV) Qualifications for conducting verification tests and inspections. Verification testing shall be performed and inspected by a party, other than the installer, installing contractor, or material vendor. Testing shall be conducted by a registered medical gas system verifier and technically competent and experienced in the field of medical gas and vacuum pipeline testing and meeting the requirements of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Personnel Standard 6030, Professional Qualifications Standard for Medical Gas Systems. The document published by ASSE Personnel Standard 6030, Professional Qualifications Standard for Medical Gas Systems as referenced in this rule may be obtained by writing or calling The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) at ASSE International Office, 901 Canterbury, Suite A, Westlake, Ohio 44145, telephone (440) 885-3040. (V) Verification tests. Upon completion of the installer inspections and tests and after closing of walls, verification tests of the medical gas piping systems, the warning system, and the gas supply source shall be conducted. The verification tests shall include a cross-connection test, valve test, flow test, piping purge test, piping purity test, final tie-in test, operational pressure tests, and medical gas concentration test. (VI) Verification test requirements. Verification tests of the medical gas piping system and the warning system shall be performed on all new piped medical gas systems, additions, renovations, or repaired portions of an existing system. All systems that are breached and components that are added, renovated, or replaced shall be inspected and appropriately tested. The breached portions of the systems subject to inspection and testing shall be all of the new and existing components in the immediate zone or area located upstream of the point or area of intrusion and downstream to the end of the system or a properly installed isolation valve. (VII) Warning system verification tests. Verification tests of piped medical gas systems shall include tests of the source alarms and monitoring safeguards, master alarm systems, and the area alarm systems. (VIII) Source equipment verification tests. Source equipment verification tests shall include medical gas supply sources (bulk and manifold) and the compressed air source systems (compressors, dryers, filters, and regulators). (IX) Hospital responsibility. Before new piped medical gas systems, additions, renovations, or repaired portions of an existing system are put into use, the hospital shall be responsible for ensuring that the gas delivered at the outlet is the gas shown on the outlet label and that the proper connecting fittings are checked against their labels. (X) Written certification. Upon successful completion of all verification tests, written certification for affected piped medical gas systems and piped medical vacuum systems including the supply sources and warning systems shall be provided by a party technically competent and experienced in the field of medical gas pipeline testing stating that the provisions of NFPA 99 have been adhered to and systems integrity has been achieved. The written certification shall be submitted directly to the hospital and the installer. A copy shall be forwarded to the department by the hospital. (XI) Documentation of medical gas and clinical vacuum outlets. Documentation of the installed, modified, extended or repaired medical gas piping system shall be submitted to the department by the same party certifying the piped medical gas systems. The number and type of medical gas outlets (oxygen, vacuum, medical air, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, etc.) shall be documented and arranged tabularly by room numbers and room types. (iv) Medical gas storage facilities. Main storage of medical gases may be outside or inside the hospital in accordance with NFPA 99, §5.1. Provision shall be made for additional separate storage of reserve gas cylinders necessary to complete at least one day's procedures. (v) Multiple gas outlets on one medical gas outlet. Y-connections, "twinning," or other similar devices shall not be used on any medical gas outlet. (vi) Waste anesthetic gas disposal (WAGD) systems. Each space routinely used for administering inhalation anesthesia shall be provided with a WAGD system as required by NFPA 99, §5.1.3.7. (vii) Steam and hot water systems. (I) Boilers. Boilers shall have the capacity, based upon the net ratings as published in The I-B-R Ratings Book for Boilers, Baseboard Radiation and Finned Tube (commercial) by the Hydronics Institute Division of GAMA, to supply the normal requirements of all systems and equipment. The number and arrangement of boilers shall be such that, when one boiler breaks down or routine maintenance requires that one boiler be temporarily taken out of service, the capacity of the remaining boiler(s) shall be sufficient to provide hot water service for clinical, dietary, and patient use, steam for sterilization and dietary purposes, and heating for operating, delivery, emergency, labor, recovery, intensive care, nursery, treatment, and general patient rooms. However, reserve capacity for space heating of noncritical care areas (e.g. general patient rooms and administrative areas) is not required in geographical areas where a design dry bulb temperature equals 25 degrees Fahrenheit or higher as based on the 99% design value shown in the Handbook of Fundamentals, 2005 edition, published by ASHRAE, Inc. The document published by the Hydronics Institute Division of GAMA as referenced in this rule may be obtained by writing or calling the Hydronics Institute Division of GAMA at 35 Russo Place, P.O. Box 218, Berkeley Heights, N.J. 07922, telephone (908) 464-8200. (II) Boiler accessories. Boiler feed pumps, heating circulating pumps, condensate return pumps, and fuel oil pumps shall be connected and installed to provide normal and standby service. (III) Valves. Supply and return mains and risers of cooling, heating, and process steam systems shall be valved to isolate the various sections of each system. Each piece of equipment shall be valved at the supply and return ends except that vacuum condensate returns need not be valved at each piece of equipment. Cont'd... |
