LIFE
NFPA’s standards that most obviously affect the daily
operations of an ASC (NFPA’s operational standards
for ASCs) are found in two important publications:
the 2000 edition of “NFPA 101® Life Safety Code®,”
which is commonly known simply as “the Life Safety Code,” and
the 1999 edition of “NFPA 99® Health Care Facilities®.” In both
cases, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has
determined that these editions of these standards should apply
to ASCs. In the Life Safety Code, the ASC standards appear in a
section not too surprisingly titled “Operating Features,” which is
located near the end of Chapter 21, “Existing Ambulatory Health
Care Occupancies.” In “Health Care Facilities,” the ASC stan-
dards are contained in the chapters that address Essential Electri-
cal Systems and Piped Medical Gas Systems, in subsections titled
“Administration.”
Many ASC operational standards contained in the Life Safety
Code relate to avoiding the risks inherent in fl ammable or smoke-
generating furnishings and decorations, and to creating and im-
plementing a comprehensive fi re emergency plan. The emergency
plan requirements include eight distinct elements (see box at far
right), education of staff and quarterly fi re drills.
Some of the requirements for a comprehensive fi re emergency
plan that are most frequently overlooked include the following:
! Activation of the alarm system, including automatic transmis-
sion of an emergency signal to the fi re-response dispatching
authority, is required with every fi re drill.
! Drills are to be “random,” but conducted on a schedule that
ensures employees are drilled under simulated emergency con-
ditions at least once every three months. This requires drills for
each distinct “shift” of staff.
! The maximum permitted trash or soiled linen container size,
and the total capacity of such containers in a single room, is
limited, except in areas protected as “hazardous areas” (which
means that the area is situated within a fi re-rated enclosure, h