MAINTENANCE AND COMPLIANCE
pressure differentials between rooms, indicating that air is flowing in the wrong direction. Poor ventilation, or problems with air filtration, can also result in a high level of microbiological organisms being present, which could be harmful. Initial independent validation and regular annual verification are essential. Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 03-01 provides comprehensive guidance on the design and management of heating and specialised ventilation in health sector buildings, and outlines the need for initial validation and annual inspections as a requirement.
Independent validation All new ventilation systems should be independently validated prior to being used. It is imperative that this is done to identify issues which may have been missed at the design, build, installation, and commissioning stage. Successfully validated systems provide the hospital with the knowledge that they have compliant ventilation. Given that they should have knowledge of the optimum ventilation solutions, and of what could go wrong with them, it is incumbent on hospital estates managers to ensure that systems are inspected and tested on a regular basis.
In addition to the range of physical tests, visual inspections of elements such as the air-handling unit and ductwork are crucial, as inspecting the condition of equipment could help to spot any potential faults before they cause harm. Checks can also help to identify hazardous conditions where bacteria such as Legionella can proliferate – for example when water
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Jerry Slann, the IOM’s Director of Occupational Hygiene, is also an Authorising Engineer for ventilation, a Chartered Engineer, and a European Engineer.
A key form of defence for a hospital is its ventilation system, as an effective one will maintain a high standard of air quality and help to prevent the spread of infections
ponds in drainage trays – or identify the presence of Aspergillus.
Knowing when to outsource expertise Hospital estates departments know all too well the importance of inspecting vital elements of buildings, such as ventilation, and can be held responsible
Hospital ventilation is vitally important in operating theatres, and is a crucial tool in reducing surgical site infections.
44 Health Estate Journal March 2017
when something goes wrong, even if the cause may have originally been a clinical one. Although the risks are known, estates managers are often faced with staff shortages or a lack of skilled engineers within the team to keep sites running, and therefore important inspections could be compromised. Due to a lack of internal resource, hospital engineers can employ the IOM to provide independent and impartial validation and verification of critical and non-critical ventilation systems to comply with the requirements of HTM 03-01. We have teams of experienced, trained, and competent validation and verification engineers carrying out inspection of new and existing systems all over the UK. As outlined in both HTM 00 and HTM 03-01, hospitals must have access to an Authorising Engineer (AE) responsible for the ventilation system for each site. As part of this role, such personnel provide estates departments with help and advice on all aspects of ventilation, including auditing, appraising Authorising Persons (AP), upgrades, and new projects. The AE must also be capable of dealing with issues should they arise. Many hospitals seek help and advice from an independent and impartial AE. Here at the IOM, we provide an AE ventilation service to a number of hospitals within both the public and private sectors via our in-house Chartered Engineers. Our AEs take on the responsibility for the management of
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