Trash Chute Door9624027
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 needed to close and latch, automatically.
Section 19.five.four.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 utilized for any other purpose. So, that means you cannot store items that are not associated to the trash chute in the room, such as floor scrubber machines.
The scene in the picture is generally brought on 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 learn that staff reductions in the Environmental Services (housekeeping) department prevent adequate staffing to eliminate the trash bags. While this might be a legitimate purpose, someone at this hospital forgot the significance of removing the trash on a normal basis. They need to make this a priority.
From a life safety 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 certain what the hospital’s Infection Control 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 room, I suggest you conduct a danger assessment to analyze the risks to patient safety. This way, you can demonstrate to a surveyor that the dangers were regarded as if the surveyor has a issue with bags o’ trash scattered on the floor.
