As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, power strips are a must in many healthcare settings, and it’s important to develop a plan that includes the proper application and installation of power strips throughout your facility. Some healthcare facilities are receiving fines of up to $100,000 for installation and application violations.

Healthcare Facility Compliance

How do you prevent this from happening?… Just remember S.T.R.I.P.

  1. Strategy—Combine your knowledge and resources to develop a strategy that makes sense for your facility and your regulatory body (NFPA, The Joint Commission, OSHA, UL, Federal, State and Local Authorities with Jurisdiction—email us for a free Regulatory Cheat Sheet Guide). It is up to facilities to conduct a risk assessment and develop a policy and maintenance plan as they deem appropriate.
  2. Technology—Stay on top of new technology that provides a higher level of safety to staff and patients. There is quite a difference between power strip technology in a generic strip from the local big box store, and Medical-Grade Power Strips with single fault line protection.
  3. Regulations—Review codes and standards. Facilities need to make sure they follow code, and code bodies should begin to adopt new technology (Again email us for a free Regulatory Cheat Sheet Guide).
  4. Installation—Make sure you understand proper installation of power strips. To name a few no-no’s: daisy-chaining, overloading and channeling strips through doorways or walls are all improper forms of installation.
  5. Purpose—Understand the different applications and their associated UL code. There are different strips for different applications throughout a facility from patient rooms to mobile applications to administrative locations.