Trash Chute Door1111109
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 19.5.four.3 of the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code demands trash chutes to discharge into trash collection rooms and the trash collection rooms can't be used for any other purpose. So, that means you can't store items that are not related to the trash chute in the space, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the picture is generally brought on by the failure to empty the cart in time, before it fills up to the point exactly where the bags of trash prevent the chute doors from closing. In today’s economy, it is not all that uncommon to discover that staff reductions in the Environmental Solutions (housekeeping) division stop adequate staffing to eliminate the trash bags. Whilst this may be a reputable purpose, someone at this hospital forgot the significance of removing the trash on a normal basis. They need to make this a priority.
From a life safety point of view, it would be much better to remove the cart and permit the bags to fall onto the floor. This way it would take a lot much more bags of trash to pile up prior to it would obstruct the chute door from closing. I’m not sure what the hospital’s Infection Control professional would say about that, but I would recommend it as an alternative if the ES department can't empty the cart frequently enough.
If you determine to allow the bags of trash to accumulate on the floor in the trash chute discharge space, I recommend you conduct a danger assessment to analyze the dangers to patient security. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the risks were considered if the surveyor has a issue with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
