Healthcare The right connections
Conex Bänninger’s medical gas product range
The supply of medical gas is an essential part of any hospital’s facilities, the piping network sending vital gas compounds through to patients who require it. Bill Barlow discusses the importance of medical gas piping and looks at what features specialist plumbing fittings should hold, to ensure the complete supply network is secure
THE SUPPLY network of medical gas in hospitals is as important as the gas compounds that are used; the successful delivery of one is not possible without the other. A fully functional medical gas sys- tem is integral to the inner work- ings of hospitals throughout the UK, including accident and emer- gency units, outpatient and inpa- tient wards, operating theatre suites and maternity units. The specialised pipe systems cir- culate a wide range of essential gas compounds around hospitals, including: oxygen, nitrous oxide, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and med- ical air. These gases are used to support an array of critical medical practices, such as pre-operation anaesthetics, the powering of pneu- matic surgical equipment and the delivery of supplementary oxygen. If the supply network fails, it would significantly disrupt the hos- pital’s schedule of activity, which can have serious consequences for the in-house medical and facilities management staff, but most impor- tantly the patients. For this reason, only the best design (exclusively undertaken on CAD software), build quality, materials, and certi- fied engineering excellence can be utilised to guarantee that the med- ical gas system is reliable, robust and fit for purpose.
As with any pipework installa-
tion, fittings play an essential role within medical gas networks. It is therefore important that the rele- vant features required for these specialist fittings and their installa- tion needs, are taken into account. This is due to the strict regulatory standards that have to be met on both counts.
It is important to note that in most cases, the medical gas piping used is almost exclusively copper. This is due to its antimicrobial properties, which are proven to assist in the killing of pathogenic microbes, such as Legionella. Fittings must be consistent with the piping material in this regard, to ensure that the best possible hygienic standards are met. In combination with this, braz- ing is the only type of jointing method allowed on medical sites when connecting a copper-to-cop- per installation, and must always be used. The reason behind this is the brazing process ensures that the joint is as strong as the parent metal, and able to withstand high- ly demanding conditions. As with any brazing fitting, the jointing method uses the principle of capil- lary attraction to ensure a mechan- ically strong and leak-proof joint. Due to copper material and brazed fittings being the basic requirements, there are further stan- dards to be adhered to. All fittings
24 | May 2016 | Healthcare supplement to HVR
provided should be independently tested and certified for cleanliness. This gives the contractor peace of mind. It is best that each fitting is capped, sealed and cleaned in accordance with BOC/MEDAES 3000000 specification.
All of these procedures are in place to ensure potential contami- nation within the medical gas pipe network is minimised. It is also highly desirable that the fittings used are degreased on the surface to below 0.01mg/cm2 of hydrocar- bons contamination and comply to the HTM 02-01 medical gas pipeline regulations. Furthermore, the BOC/MEDAES 3000000 hygiene specification measure refers to the fittings’ packaging, which dictates that the components should always be individually bagged in clear, pro- tective polythene. Each bag should carry an easily removable label, stating the degreased speci- fication, product code and product batch number. This assures the engineer that each individual fit- ting used is fit for purpose and meets legal requirements. It is also necessary to give the contractor added assurance of the quality of the fittings by marking the fittings with a BSI kitemark stamp and quality assured in accordance with ISO 9001:2015. It’s always advisable to choose a
brand with ISO 9001 certification to guarantee premium quality. Engineers and contractors responsible for the installation of medical gas piping, should also be extremely careful to ensure that work is completed to a high stan- dard and safely. In terms of the brazing materials, the copper-to-copper joints should be made onsite using a silver-cop- per-phosphorous brazing alloy type CP1 or CP4 to BS 1845 using a clean, oil and oxygen free nitro- gen inert gas shield with no flux. The installer must also use CO2 as an internal shield gas. With this in mind, it is of critical importance that precautions are taken if an installer is working for prolonged periods, particularly within a con- fined space, ensuring the build up of CO2 within this area is avoided. As demonstrated above, med- ical gas piping systems are highly technical and product quality assurance is of the utmost impor- tance. Therefore selecting the right brand of fitting that can provide this assurance is critical, not just for the contractor, but the medical professionals and the patients. Ultimately, the medical gas con- nection network is as important as the treatment itself.
• Bill Barlow is Conex Bänninger’s UK business director
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