Trash Chute Door755309
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.three of the 2000 edition of the Life Security 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 associated to the trash chute in the space, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the image is commonly brought on by the failure to empty the cart in time, prior to it fills up to the point where the bags of trash prevent the chute doors from closing. In today’s economy, it is not all that uncommon to discover that staff reductions in the Environmental Solutions (housekeeping) division stop adequate staffing to eliminate the trash bags. While this might be a legitimate reason, someone at this hospital forgot the importance of removing the trash on a normal basis. They require to make this a priority.
From a life security point of view, it would be 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 sure what the hospital’s Infection Control expert would say about that, but I would recommend it as an alternative if the ES department cannot empty the cart often enough.
If you determine to allow the bags of trash to accumulate on the floor in the trash chute discharge room, I recommend you conduct a danger assessment to analyze the dangers to patient safety. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the risks had been regarded as if the surveyor has a problem with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
