Trash Chute Door2389304
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.4.3 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 objective. So, that means you cannot 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, 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 learn that employees reductions in the Environmental Solutions (housekeeping) division stop sufficient staffing to remove the trash bags. Whilst this may be a legitimate reason, somebody at this hospital forgot the importance 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 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 expert would say about that, but I would suggest it as an alternative if the ES department can't empty the cart frequently sufficient.
If you decide 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 security. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the dangers had been regarded as if the surveyor has a problem with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
