Trash Chute Door1645316
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 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 cannot be utilized for any other purpose. So, that indicates you can't shop products that are not associated to the trash chute in the space, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the image is commonly brought on by the failure to empty the cart in time, before it fills up to the point where the bags of trash prevent the chute doors from closing. In today’s economy, it is not all that uncommon to learn that staff reductions in the Environmental Services (housekeeping) department stop sufficient staffing to eliminate the trash bags. While this might be a reputable 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 much better to eliminate 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 before it would obstruct the chute door from closing. I’m not certain what the hospital’s Infection Control professional would say about that, but I would suggest it as an alternative if the ES department cannot empty the cart often sufficient.
If you decide to permit the bags of trash to accumulate on the floor in the trash chute discharge room, I suggest you conduct a danger assessment to analyze the risks 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.
