By Brad Keyes / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

Q: I have a question that is still a little fuzzy regarding fire drills. My hospital is partners with a separate clinic. Several of the clinics throughout the community have hospital employees working there (PT, Imaging etc.) but the building is owned by the clinic. Who is responsible for running drills and testing the emergency operations plan? On a side note, some of the clinics are Rural Healthcare Clinics, so the hospital owns the clinic and it operates under the hospitals CMS number but all of the employees are clinic employees not hospital.

A: Yes… I could see where this would be a fuzzy issue for you. Here is how I suggest you address this issue:

• Your hospital has an interest in the clinics

• Your hospital has staff that work in the clinics

• Your hospital has patients that receive care in these clinics

Therefore; you are responsible for all testing, inspecting, and maintenance of all the fire-safety equipment, and you’re responsible for all drills (EM and fire), as well as meeting the requirements for management plans, EOPs, and policies and procedures.  

An AHJ will very likely determine that since you have staff and patients in these facilities, they must fall under the hospital’s rules/standards for Emergency Management, Physical Environment, and Life Safety. That means you need to have copies of the documentation that all of the fire-safety devices were tested and maintained, and copies of all drills were conducted.

Now… if you have a great relationship with your partner clinic, and they perform all of the testing and inspecting requirements, and the drill requirements, then that is fine. You can use copies of their reports as evidence of compliance. But you still need to include these clinics in your management plans and EOP scope of work.

The bottom line is… as long as you have staff and /or patients in these clinics, then your accreditor will very likely expect that you comply with all of the hospital standards at these off-site locations.

Brad Keyes, CHSP, is the owner of KEYES Life Safety Compliance, and his expertise is in the management of the Life Safety Program, including the Environment of Care and Emergency Management programs.