Trash Chute Door4293348
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.five.4.3 of the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code requires trash chutes to discharge into trash collection rooms and the trash collection rooms can't be utilized for any other purpose. So, that means you can't shop items that are not associated to the trash chute in the space, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the image is generally caused 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 discover that employees reductions in the Environmental Solutions (housekeeping) department prevent adequate staffing to remove the trash bags. While this might be a reputable reason, somebody at this hospital forgot the significance of removing the trash on a normal basis. They need to make this a priority.
From a life security point of view, it would be better to remove the cart and allow 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 certain what the hospital’s Infection Manage expert would say about that, but I would recommend it as an option if the ES division cannot empty the cart frequently sufficient.
If you determine 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 dangers to patient security. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the dangers were considered if the surveyor has a problem with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
