| (F) Design for the handicapped. Special considerations
benefiting handicapped staff, visitors, and patients shall be provided.
Each facility shall comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) of 1990, Public Law 101-336, 42 United States Code, Chapter
126, and Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1191, Appendix
A, Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities.
(G) Other regulations. Certain projects may be subject
to other regulations, including those of federal, state, and local
authorities. The more stringent standard or requirement shall apply
when a difference in requirements for construction exists.
(H) Exceeding minimum requirements. Nothing in this
subchapter shall be construed to prohibit a better type of building
construction, more exits, or otherwise safer conditions than the minimum
requirements specified in this subchapter.
(I) Equivalency. Nothing in this subchapter is intended
to prevent the use of systems, methods, or devices of equivalent or
superior quality, strength, fire resistance, effectiveness, durability,
and safety to those prescribed by this subchapter, providing technical
documentation which demonstrates equivalency is submitted to the department
for approval.
(J) Freestanding buildings (not for patient use). Separate
freestanding buildings for nonpatient use such as the heating plant,
boiler plant, laundry, repair workshops, or general storage may be
of unprotected non-combustible construction, protected non-combustible
construction, or fire-resistive construction and be designed in accordance
with other occupancy classifications requirements listed in NFPA 101.
(K) Freestanding buildings (for patient use other than
sleeping). Buildings containing areas for patient use which do not
contain patient sleeping areas and in which care or treatment is rendered
to ambulatory inpatients who are capable of judgment and appropriate
physical action for self-preservation under emergency conditions,
may be classified as ambulatory health care occupancies or business
occupancies as listed in NFPA 101, Chapters 20 and 38, respectively,
instead of facility occupancy. Such buildings shall be located at
least 20 feet from the facility unless protected by an approved automatic
sprinkler system.
(L) Energy conservation. In new construction and in
major alterations and additions to existing buildings and in new buildings,
electrical and mechanical components shall be selected for efficient
utilization of energy.
(2) General detail and finish requirements. Details
and finishes in new construction projects, including additions and
alterations, shall be in compliance with this paragraph, with NFPA
101, Chapter 18, with local building codes, and with any specific
detail and finish requirements for the particular unit or suite as
contained in §134.123 of this title.
(A) General detail requirements.
(i) Fire safety. Fire safety features, including compartmentation,
means of egress, automatic extinguishing systems, inspections, smoking
regulations, and other details relating to fire prevention and fire
protection shall comply with §134.121 of this title (relating
to Requirements for Buildings in which Existing Licensed Facilities
are Located), and NFPA 101, Chapter 18 requirements for facilities.
The Fire Safety Evaluation System for Health Care Occupancies contained
in the National Fire Protection Association 101A, Alternative Approaches
to Life Safety, 1998 edition, Chapter 3, shall not be used in new
building construction, renovations or additions to existing facilities.
(ii) Access to exits. Corridors providing access to
all patient, diagnostic, treatment, and sleeping rooms and exits shall
be at least six feet in clear and unobstructed width (except as allowed
by NFPA 101, §18-2.3.3, Exceptions 1 and 2), not less than 7
feet 6 inches in height, and constructed in accordance with requirements
listed in NFPA 101, §18-3.6.
(iii) Corridors in other occupancies. Public corridors
in outpatient, administrative, and service areas which are designed
to other than facility requirements and are the required means of
egress from the facility shall be not less than five feet in width.
(iv) Encroachment into the means of egress. Items such
as drinking fountains, telephone booths or stations, and vending
machines shall be so located as to not project into and restrict
exit corridor traffic or reduce the exit corridor width below the
required minimum. Portable equipment shall not be stored so as to
project into and restrict exit corridor traffic or reduce the exit
corridor width below the required minimum.
(v) Doors in means of egress. All door leaves in the
means of egress shall be not less than 36 inches wide or as otherwise
permitted for facilities by NFPA 101, §18-2.3.5.
(vi) Sliding doors. When sliding doors are provided
to a means of egress corridor, the sliding doors shall have break-away
provisions, positive latching devices, and shall be installed to resist
passage of smoke.
(vii) Control doors. Designs that include cross-corridor
control doors should be avoided. When unavoidable, cross-corridor
control doors shall consist of two 32-inch wide leaves which swing
in a direction opposite from the other, or of the double acting type,
and be provided with view panels.
(viii) Emergency access. Rooms containing bathtubs,
showers, or water closets, intended for patient use shall be provided
with at least one outswinging door or special frame and hardware which
will permit the door to swing out for staff access to a patient who
may have collapsed against the door. The width of such doors shall
not be less than 36 inches.
(ix) Obstruction of corridors. All doors which swing
towards the corridor must be recessed. Corridor doors to rooms not
subject to occupancy (any room that you can walk into and close the
door behind you is considered occupiable) may swing into the corridor,
provided that such doors comply with the requirements of NFPA 101,
§7-2.1.4.3.
(x) Stair landing. Doors shall not open immediately
onto a stair without a landing. The landing shall be 44 inches deep
or have a depth at least equal to the door width, whichever is greater.
(xi) Doors to rooms subject to occupancy. All doors
to rooms subject to occupancy shall be of the swing type except that
horizontal sliding doors complying with the requirements of NFPA 101,
§18-2.2.2.9 are permitted. Door leaves to rooms subject to occupancy
shall not be less than 36 inches wide unless noted otherwise.
(xii) Operable windows and exterior doors. Windows
that can be opened without tools or keys and outer doors without automatic
closing devices shall be provided with insect screens.
(xiii) Glazing. 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.
(xiv) Fire doors. 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.
(xv) Elevator doors. Elevator shaft openings shall
be protected with a B labeled one-hour fire protection rated doors
in buildings less than four stories; and one and one-half hour fire
protection rated doors in buildings four or more stories.
(xvi) Elevator lobbies. Elevator lobbies shall have
at least 10 feet of clear floor space in front of the elevator doors.
(xvii) Grab bars. Grab bars shall be provided at patient
toilets, showers and tubs. The bars shall have sufficient strength
and anchorage to sustain a concentrated vertical or horizontal load
of 250 pounds. Grab bars are not permitted at bathing and toilet fixtures
unless designed and installed to eliminate the possibility of patients
harming themselves. Grab bars intended for use by the disabled shall
also comply with ADA requirements.
(xviii) Soap dishes. Recessed soap dishes shall be
provided at all showers and bathtubs.
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