RISK MANAGEMENT
Appendix 1. Hospital facility systems. Let us consider some of the systems that may be available in a hospital.
1. Clinical Equipment & Medical Asset Systems
These are essential for patient diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring: l Medical Imaging Systems l Diagnostic Equipment l Life Support Systems l Surgical Equipment l Patient Monitoring System l Laboratory Equipment l Sterilisation Equipment l Rehabilitation & Mobility Equipment
2. Building & Infrastructure Asset Systems From the hospital perspective, while
two lines will reduce the risk exposure to loss of supply from line failure, there is another aspect to consider – the water itself. This arrangement of assets will not reduce the risk exposure of contaminated water from the treatment facility and so there should be additional activities in place to measure the water quality and ensure there are contingencies in place to provide water of the required quality and quantity to the hospital should the need arise.
How is risk reduction built into design? Australasian Health Facility Guidelines (AUSHFG) provide some overall guidance, but the state level design guidelines provide more granular details of requirements for N+1 systems and assets. It should be noted, however, that the end client should be able to direct and have input into the level of spare capacity and redundancy of the systems to meet their own specific risk appetite. Layers of redundancy can be built into designs without necessarily realising it. Utilising the capital investment requirements, there can be occasions where three or four layers of redundancy/ spare capacity are built into systems, as these are pieced together from first principles without consideration of the outcome. This may be an area to consider going forward, that a holistic review of the systems(s) may identify areas where costs can be saved and yet still have sufficient redundancy and spare capacity to meet client needs and risk appetite. In conclusion, critical assets have a significant impact upon the delivery of services, but that does not mean that they have a high failure rate, and so they might not be ‘risky’. Any assets classed as high risk should have appropriate mitigation actions in place to bring the risk exposure down to a manageable level.
IFHE DIGEST 2026
These systems support the hospital’s physical environment and utilities: l HVAC l Electrical & Power Backup Systems l Water & Plumbing Systems l Fire Safety Systems l Building Management System (BMS) l Lifts & Transport Systems l Gas Supply Systems
3. IT & Digital Health Asset Systems
These systems handle hospital operations, patient records, and communication: l Electronic Medical Records (EMR) & Hospital Information Systems (HIS)
l Radiology Information System (RIS) & Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS)
l Medication Management Systems l Nurse Call & Patient Communication Systems l Cybersecurity & Network Infrastructure l Telehealth & Remote Monitoring Systems.
4. Support & Logistical Asset Systems
These systems facilitate non-clinical hospital operations: l Medical Waste Management Systems l Laundry & Sterile Processing Equipment l Food Service & Catering Systems l Inventory & Asset Tracking Systems l Security & Access Control Systems l Fleet Management System l Parking & Facility Management Systems
5. Specialised Asset Systems
In larger hospitals, these additional systems are common: l Hyperbaric Oxygen Chambers l Robotic Surgery Systems l Pathology & Blood Bank Management Systems l Pharmacy Automation Systems
IFHE 57
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