| (E) Additional areas or room(s) for mechanical and electrical equipment shall be provided within the physical plant or installed in separate buildings or weatherproof enclosures with the following exceptions. (i) An area shall be provided for cooling towers and heat rejection equipment when such equipment is used. (ii) An area for the medical gas park and equipment shall be provided. For smaller medical gas systems, the equipment may be housed in a room within the physical plant in accordance with National Fire Protection Association 99, Standard for Health Care Facilities, 2002 edition (NFPA 99), Chapters 4 and 8. (iii) When provided, compactors, dumpsters, and incinerators shall be located in an area remote from public entrances. (e) General detail requirements. Details in new construction projects, including additions and alterations, shall comply with this subsection, with NFPA 101, Chapter 20, and with local building codes. (1) Fire safety features, including smoke compartmentation, means of egress, automatic extinguishing systems, inspections, smoking regulations, and other details relating to fire prevention and fire protection shall comply with NFPA 101, Chapter 20. The Fire Safety Evaluation System for Health Care Occupancies contained in the National Fire Protection Association 101A, Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, 2001 Edition, Chapter 3, shall not be used in new building construction, renovations, or additions to existing facilities. (2) Exits, corridors and doors. (A) A facility shall provide 2 exits remote from each other in accordance with NFPA 101, §20.2.4.1. At least 1 exit door shall be accessible by an ambulance from the outside. This door may also serve as an entry for loading or receiving goods. (B) Encroachment into the means of egress. Such items as drinking fountains, telephone booths or stations, and vending machines shall not project into and restrict exit corridor traffic or reduce the exit corridor width below the required minimum. Portable equipment, when stored, shall not project into and restrict exit corridor traffic or reduce the exit corridor width below the required minimum. (C) Corridors. (i) The minimum clear and unobstructed width of a public corridor shall be at least 4 feet. (ii) The communicating corridor shall be used to convey patients by stretcher, gurney, or bed. (iii) The communicating corridor shall link the treatment room/area, exam room/area, and holding room/area and shall be continuous to at least 1 exit. (iv) The minimum clear and unobstructed width of the communicating corridor shall be 6 feet. (D) Doors at all openings between corridors and rooms or spaces subject to occupancy shall be swing type. Elevator doors are excluded from this requirement. (E) Doors, except doors to spaces such as small closets which are not subject to occupancy, shall not swing into corridors in a manner that might obstruct traffic flow or reduce the required corridor width. Large walk-in type closets are considered as occupiable spaces. (F) The minimum width of doors for patient access to treatment, examination, diagnostic, and imaging rooms requiring access for beds and gurneys shall be 3 feet 8 inches. (G) Emergency access rooms containing a restroom, intended for patient use, shall be provided with at least one door having hardware which will permit access from the outside in any emergency. Door leaf width of such doors shall not be less than 36 inches. (H) Horizontal sliding doors serving an occupant load of fewer than 10 shall be permitted. The area served by the door shall have no high hazard contents. The door shall be readily operable from either side without special knowledge or effort. The force required to operate the door in the direction of door travel shall be not more than 30 pounds per foot to set the door in motion, and shall be not more than 15 pounds per foot to close the door or open in the minimum required width. The door assembly shall comply with any required fire protection rating, and, where rated, shall be self-closing or automatic closing. The sliding doors opening to the egress corridor doors shall have a latch or other mechanism that ensures that the doors will not rebound into a partially open position if forcefully closed. The sliding doors shall be installed to resist passage of smoke and may have breakaway provisions. The latching sliding panel shall have a minimum clear opening of 36 inches in the fully open position. The fixed panels may have recessed tracks. (I) All fire doors shall be listed by an independent testing laboratory and shall meet the construction requirements for fire doors in National Fire Protection Association 80, Standard for Fire Doors and Fire Windows, 1999 Edition. Reference to a labeled door shall be construed to include labeled frame and hardware. (3) Glazing for glass doors, lights, sidelights, borrowed lights, and windows located within 12 inches of a door jamb or with a bottom-frame height of less than 18 inches and a top-frame height of more than 36 inches above the finished floor which may be broken accidentally by pedestrian traffic shall be glazed with safety glass or plastic glazing material that will resist breaking and will not create dangerous cutting edges when broken. Similar materials shall be used for wall openings in activity areas such as recreation and exercise rooms, unless otherwise required for fire safety. Safety glass, tempered or plastic glazing materials shall be used for shower doors and bath enclosures, interior windows and doors. Plastic and similar materials used for glazing shall comply with the flame spread ratings of NFPA 101, §18.3.3. (4) Grab bars shall be provided at patient toilets and showers. The bars shall be one and one-half inches in diameter, shall have either one and one-fourth or one and one-half inches clearance to walls, and shall have sufficient strength and anchorage to sustain a concentrated vertical or horizontal load of 250 pounds. Grab bars intended for use by the disabled shall also comply with ADA requirements. (5) Location and arrangement of fittings for hand washing facilities shall permit their proper use and operation. Hand washing fixtures with hands-free controls shall be provided in each examination, treatment, trauma, diagnostic, imaging, holding/observation room/area, soiled utility room, clean work room, and toilet room. Particular care shall be given to the clearances required for blade-type operating handles. Lavatories and hand washing facilities shall be securely anchored to withstand an applied vertical load of not less than 250 pounds on the front of the fixture. In addition to the specific areas noted, hand washing facilities shall be conveniently located for staff use in rooms and areas noted under spatial requirements in subsection (d) of this section and throughout the center where patient care services are provided. (6) A liquid or foam soap dispenser shall be located at each hand washing facility. (7) Provisions for hand drying shall be included at all hand washing facilities. Hot air dryers or individual paper or cloth units shall be enclosed to provide protection against dust or soil and shall provide single-unit dispensing. (8) A sign shall be posted at the entrance to each toilet/restroom to identify the facility for public, staff, or patient use. (9) Emergency eyewash shall be provided conveniently located within the emergency suite for staff use and comply with ANSI Z358.1. (10) The minimum ceiling height shall be eight feet six inches with the following exceptions. (A) Rooms containing ceiling-mounted light fixtures or equipment. Trauma rooms or other rooms containing ceiling-mounted light fixtures or equipment shall have a ceiling height of not less than 9 feet. Additional ceiling height may be required to accommodate special fixtures or equipment. (B) Ceilings in storage rooms, toilet rooms, and other minor rooms shall be not less than 7 feet 6 inches. (C) Boiler rooms shall have ceiling clearances not less than 2 feet 6 inches above the main boiler header and connecting piping. (D) Overhead clearance for suspended tracks, rails, pipes, signs, lights, door closers, exit signs, and other fixtures that protrude into the path of normal traffic shall not be less than six feet eight inches above the finished floor. (11) Areas producing impact noises like recreation rooms, exercise rooms, and similar spaces shall not be located directly over trauma or treatment rooms/area unless special provisions are made to minimize noise. (12) Rooms containing heat-producing equipment, such as mechanical and electrical equipment and laundry rooms, shall be insulated and ventilated to prevent floors of any occupied room located above it from exceeding a temperature differential of 10 degrees Fahrenheit above the ambient room temperature. (13) When the entire facility is provided with digital imaging system capabilities, a minimum of 2 X-ray film illuminators viewers shall be provided in a central location. Cont'd... |
