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