Trash Chute Door9037038
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 used for any other objective. So, that indicates you can't store products that are not related to the trash chute in the space, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the picture is generally caused by the failure to empty the cart in time, before 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 Services (housekeeping) division prevent sufficient staffing to eliminate the trash bags. Whilst this may be a reputable reason, someone at this hospital forgot the importance 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 remove the cart and permit 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 Manage professional would say about that, but I would recommend it as an option if the ES division can't empty the cart often enough.
If you determine to permit 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 considered if the surveyor has a issue with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
