Ensuring a healthcare facility or project within a facility is compliant with the correct life safety standards is a critical component of compliance management, according to an article on the Consulting-Specifying Engineer website.
The article reviewed some of the fire and life safety components of NFPA 99: Health Care Facilities Code.
NFPA 99-2015 is based on a concept of risk management within a healthcare facility. The requirements espoused through NFPA 99 are applied based on the risk category of the occupancy.
The categories are assigned based on the risk to a patient. Category 1 is applied to "activities, systems or equipment whose failure is likely to cause major injury or death of patients, staff or visitors" (NFPA 99 4.1.1). Categories 2 through 4 decrease in this risk until an activity, system or piece of equipment holds no threat or impact to patient, staff or visitor safety.
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