Trash Chute Door5216375
Wow… What a scary website to see. Trash bags caught in the trash chute in such a way that it prevents the chute doors from automatically closing. And make no error about it, the trash chute doors are required to close and latch, automatically.
Section 19.five.4.three of the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code requires trash chutes to discharge into trash collection rooms and the trash collection rooms can't be used for any other purpose. So, that indicates you can't store items that are not related to the trash chute in the room, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the picture is generally caused by the failure to empty the cart in time, prior to it fills up to the point exactly where the bags of trash stop the chute doors from closing. In today’s economy, it is not all that uncommon to learn that employees reductions in the Environmental Services (housekeeping) department prevent sufficient staffing to eliminate the trash bags. While this might be a legitimate purpose, someone at this hospital forgot the importance of removing the trash on a regular basis. They need to make this a priority.
From a life safety point of view, it would be better to remove the cart and permit the bags to fall onto the floor. This way it would take a lot more bags of trash to pile up prior to it would obstruct the chute door from closing. I’m not certain what the hospital’s Infection Control expert would say about that, but I would suggest it as an option if the ES division can't empty the cart often enough.
If you determine to permit the bags of trash to accumulate on the floor in the trash chute discharge space, I suggest you conduct a risk assessment to analyze the risks to patient safety. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the risks had been considered if the surveyor has a problem with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
