IHEEM AE CONFERENCE 2023
damper manufacturers and discussed it with them. They told me their latest dampers were more reliable than in the past, so the question remains as to why you should need to check these devices annually – bearing in mind that it costs about £40 to check each, and there are probably over 1000 in each hospital. That means hospitals paying out £40,000 or more on this activity alone to be compliant – a word we don’t much like – with that British Standard.” This was one of the reasons that the Fire Safety Technical Platform had recently issued a guide to fire damper maintenance, which was ‘risk and evidence-based’. The TP had also, Maz Daoud explained, issued two further guides – on fire doors and fire compartmentation.
Fire compartmentation and building / services work The Platform Chair went on to explain that the Fire Safety Technical Platform was now working on guidance ‘on another aspect of fire compartmentation’. He explained: “Let’s say you want to put some new medical gas pipes through an existing fire compartment, but there has been work done in the location by some fire-stopper in the past and you don’t know which materials, or company’s materials, were used. In order to certificate that compartment again you’ve got to
rip it all out and start again, which is ludicrous. Why do we need to do that? So, we are writing a document to cover this eventuality, outlining a more sensible approach. We’ve been working on this with other people, including Alan Oliver, who has done some fire-testing on our behalf, using one particular manufacturer’s fire compartment. Four different penetrations were then put through it using different manufacturers’ products, and they all worked well – so all of that money being spent on ripping out and re-doing is in most cases unnecessary. Our aim will be to explain where it is needed, and where it may not be.” Another area the Platform is currently looking at, Maz Daoud explained, is audit. He said: “So the Authorising Engineer will go and carry out an annual audit, and the fire authority will normally visit the healthcare facility and undertake its own. So,” he continued, “what do those two groups look at, what should they be asking, and what sort of process should be gone through?” The Platform Chair said members, working closely with the National Fire Chiefs Council, had developed protocols for inspection officers from the fire authorities to follow when they undertake an inspection. He said: “The beauty of this is that it will be available to hospitals and Trusts, so they can go through it and identify all the
elements they need to have in mind, so that when the Fire Service arrives, they can give the key data to them. It’s of course a legal requirement to provide this information.” He concluded: “So, that’s where we are currently. We’re working on both of these, and we will also be looking to develop more guidance compliant with the legislation, but not necessarily aligned to British Standards, and probably beyond the scope of the HTMs.”
Medical gases Next to speak was Graeme Dunn, an Authorising Engineer for Medical Gases. He told delegates: “I’m on the Medical Gases Technical Platform – as are most of the IHEEM-registered AEs for this discipline, although I’m not the Chair.” Graeme Dunn said the ‘big hit’ for medical gases had been the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained: “The Technical Platform was quite active in producing guidance issued to the hospital APs (with input from long-standing medical gas expert, Geoff Dillow), particularly on how to maximise the output from VIE installations.” More recently, the Platform had been looking at the ‘urgently required updates’ to the medical gases HTM, HTM 02-01, which had originally been issued in 2006, and had served its purpose well. Graeme Dunn added: “However, since 2006, or possibly even before, while the document was
PREVENT VIOLENCE AGAINST STAFF
RELIABLE EASY TO USE EFFICIENT
The UK and Ireland’s leading provider of staff safety systems to high-risk workplaces
PINPOINT.LTD.UK September 2023 Health Estate Journal 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
