Richard L. Parker
By Richard Parker, MBA, CHFM, CLSS-HC, FASHE, FACHE
Do you have enough storage space to serve the needs of your surgical teams? When ACHC surveys hospitals and ASCs, most answer that question with a resounding, “No!” Even single specialty surgical settings seem to run out of space as the equipment and supplies needed for procedures increase in quantity (often) and size (sometimes). Where to store items in a way that maintains their integrity and accessibility can be a struggle.
You know what needs to be stored. Your facility manager knows the technical requirements for medical equipment and life safety, including those that apply to your largest piece of equipment: your building. Storage issues are best addressed collaboratively with your facility manager to come up with a solution that also complies with the Life Safety Code.
A series of questions detailed below should jumpstart your creative (and compliant) problem-solving.
Is the surgical area a suite, or can it be made into a suite?
Understanding the difference between a surgical suite and a suite according to the Life Safety Code is important. A surgical suite is understood as an area which includes one or more operating rooms and one or more recovery rooms. By contrast, a “patient care non-sleeping suite” is defined in NFPA 101-2012 Life Safety Code, chapter 18/19.2.5.7.3. The reference identifies qualifying criteria for designating an area as a suite. Chief among them, a patient care non-sleeping suite is a large “room of rooms,” without the constraints of a maintaining an 8-foot-wide corridor. Your facility manager can assess your surgical area with you to identify any allowances the suite designation provides. Where the surgery area is not a suite, the corridor width of 8-feet must be maintained. Understanding this distinction can help staff know where equipment and supplies can be stored or parked.
Can the corridors and alcoves be used for storage?
In addition to the non-suite requirement for an 8-foot clear corridor, it is also important to note that locating equipment even temporarily in front of medical gas shut-off valves or electrical panels is not permitted. This is especially challenging because these utility access points are typically found right where staff place stretchers and other equipment to be used in an active case. This type of parking is not permitted, even short-term.
Can we convert an operating room to a storage room?
It is not unusual for facilities to change the use of an area such as an operating room to store equipment in it. However, reassigning an unused OR as a storage room has a few specific considerations. Your facility manager should assess the change of use with you. In Life Safety Code, chapter 43.7, the requirements for a change of use or occupancy are defined. Converting an OR to a storage room changes its use category to a hazardous area. In 43.7.1.2 (2), the code adds additional requirements if the room is 250 sq. ft. or larger. Many modern ORs are 400-600 sq. ft. In those cases, the facility manager will have to take additional steps for the storage room to be compliant.
What air flow requirements will be associated with storage?
There must also be some thought given to room pressurization based on the type of storage. As a working OR, the air pressure should be positive to adjacent areas. If the storage function is “dirty,” then the room pressurization would need to be changed from positive to negative pressure. If the storage room function is clean to the corridor, or if it is sterile storage, then the (presumably existing) positive pressure is acceptable and compliant with code.
Don’t forget that your changes impact your Life Safety Drawings. Suites should be identified and a change of use such as converting an operating room to a storage room would require labeling as a hazardous area.
Understanding the full implications of potential choices for storage areas will help you make a good decision and protect patients and staff.
– Richard L. Parker is associate director, physical environment and life safety at Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc., where he provides guidance to customers and surveyors in the ASC and hospital programs. Prior to joining ACHC fulltime, Richard was a surveyor in the HFAP program while serving as Executive Director of Facilities for a 615-bed hospital system in Arizona.
