Trash Chute Door5187319
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 19.5.four.three of the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code requires trash chutes to discharge into trash collection rooms and the trash collection rooms cannot be used for any other objective. So, that means you cannot 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, before 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 learn that employees reductions in the Environmental Services (housekeeping) department prevent adequate staffing to eliminate the trash bags. Whilst this may be a reputable 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 security point of view, it would be much 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 sure what the hospital’s Infection Control expert would say about that, but I would recommend it as an option if the ES department can't empty the cart often sufficient.
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 risk assessment to analyze the risks to patient security. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the risks were regarded as if the surveyor has a problem with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
