Trash Chute Door4213719
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 19.5.4.3 of the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code demands trash chutes to discharge into trash collection rooms and the trash collection rooms cannot be utilized for any other objective. So, that indicates you can't store products that are not related to the trash chute in the room, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the picture 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 stop 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) division prevent sufficient staffing to eliminate the trash bags. While this might be a reputable purpose, somebody at this hospital forgot the significance of removing the trash on a regular basis. They require to make this a priority.
From a life safety point of view, it would be better to eliminate the cart and allow the bags to fall onto the floor. This way it would take a lot more bags of trash to pile up prior to it would obstruct the chute door from closing. I’m not certain what the hospital’s Infection Control expert would say about that, but I would recommend it as an option if the ES division 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 room, I recommend you conduct a risk assessment to analyze the dangers to patient safety. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the dangers had been regarded as if the surveyor has a issue with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
