Trash Chute Door3697748
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.three 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 cannot shop items that are not associated to the trash chute in the space, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the image is commonly caused by the failure to empty the cart in time, prior to 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 employees reductions in the Environmental Services (housekeeping) department stop sufficient staffing to eliminate the trash bags. While this may be a legitimate reason, somebody at this hospital forgot the importance of removing the trash on a normal basis. They require 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 before it would obstruct the chute door from closing. I’m not certain what the hospital’s Infection Manage professional would say about that, but I would suggest it as an alternative if the ES department can't empty the cart frequently enough.
If you decide 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 risks to patient security. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the risks were considered if the surveyor has a problem with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
