Code Policy Changes
While codes and policies guide how we build and run our healthcare facilities, and are intended for everyone’s safety, there are specific scenarios where they will conflict with each other and/or create challenges for the hospital. Typical language such as “where there is a conflict the more stringent code shall apply” sometimes just isn’t enough guidance.
This section is intended to function as a forum where facility leaders and engineers can share nuanced scenarios where codes can conflict and reliance on the more stringent option does not give proper guidance. It is intended to bring greater awareness of these conflicts/challenges so that streamlining future policies and codes can be more specific and standardized, and less up to interpretation. Below you will find a selection of such scenarios.
Example #1: Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine requires that “Hospital shall provide equipment… appropriate… to services offered” (paraphrased for clarity). Rooms with a linear accelerator (LINAC) machine have radioactive shielding and may require doors that can weigh thousands of pounds. If there is a need to renovate this space to meet the updated energy code, the hospital cannot simply move that unit to another room during renovation. They will need to build an entirely new room first that meets these requirements and place the unit in that room during renovation. This scenario can impact the decision to move forward with facility renovations or upgrades.
Example #2: Infection Control Requirements
If a hospital wants to change a light fixture from fluorescent to LED, it needs to be done in a negatively pressurized infection controls cube that is roughly two by four feet. The FGI guidelines have extensive text relating to “common elements of a Hospital” which at first glance might not have any relation to emissions or energy efficiency but are very important to the interpretation of, and feasibility of compliance with something like Local Law 97.
Share Your Experience
What code conflicts have you experienced over the course of your decarbonization projects? How did you resolve them? Your experiences may be useful to other hospitals as they embark on their own facility upgrade projects. Send an email to [email protected] to share.