Trash Chute Door1200593
Wow… What a scary site 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 mistake about it, the trash chute doors are needed to close and latch, automatically.
Section 19.5.four.3 of the 2000 edition of the Life Security Code requires trash chutes to discharge into trash collection rooms and the trash collection rooms cannot be used for any other purpose. So, that means you cannot store products that are not associated to the trash chute in the room, 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 where the bags of trash stop the chute doors from closing. In today’s economy, it is not all that uncommon to learn that staff reductions in the Environmental Solutions (housekeeping) division prevent sufficient staffing to eliminate the trash bags. Whilst this might be a legitimate reason, somebody at this hospital forgot the importance of removing the trash on a regular basis. They require to make this a priority.
From a life security point of view, it would be better to eliminate 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 Manage professional would say about that, but I would recommend it as an alternative if the ES department can't empty the cart often enough.
If you decide to permit the bags of trash to accumulate on the floor in the trash chute discharge space, I recommend you conduct a risk assessment to analyze the dangers to patient security. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the dangers were regarded as if the surveyor has a problem with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
