NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Codes and Standards

An Overview of NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities

EC & EN Magazine Article Part 1 of 1

The idea for the Standard for Health Care Facilities came about as an effort to coordinate and correlate the information contained in 12 existing documents on various subjects. Eleven of the twelve documents directly addressed fire-related problems in and about health care facilities.

The scope of this document is to establish criteria to minimize the hazards of fire, explosion, and electricity in health care facilities providing services to human beings. These criteria include performance, maintenance, testing, and safe practices for all facilities, material, equipment, and appliances, as well as other hazards associated with the primary hazards.

Note: This is similar to the requirements for testing and maintaining emergency systems as found in the National Electrical Code, in Article 700; Section 700.4

This document shall apply to all health care facilities. Construction and equipment requirements shall be applied only to new construction and new equipment, except as modified in individual chapters. Only the altered, renovated, or modernized portion of an existing system or individual component shall be required to meet the installation and equipment requirements stated in this standard. If the alteration, renovation, or modernization adversely impacts existing performance requirements of a system or component additional upgrading shall be required.

Note: This is similar to the 2002 National Electrical Code. The new Article 80 of the 2002 NEC addresses similar issues, with essentially the same response.

This document (NFPA 99) is intended for use by those persons involved in the design, construction, inspection, and operation of the health care facilities and in the design, manufacture, and testing of appliances and equipment used in patient care areas of health care facilities.

NFPA 99 is organized as follows:

• Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter.
• Chapter 2 lists definitions applicable to the proper application of this Standard.
• Chapters 3-11 are general in nature.
• Chapters 12-18 are “facility” chapters, listing requirements from Chapters 3-11 that are applicable to specific facilities. These chapters also contain any additional requirements specific to that facility.

Course Outline:

• Chapter 1 – Introduction
• Chapter 2 – Definitions
• Chapter 3 – Electrical Systems
• Chapter 7 – Electrical Equipment
• Chapter 9 – Manufacturer’s Requirements
• Chapter 11 – Health Care Emergency Preparedness
• Chapter 20 – Referenced Publications
Annex 1 – The Safe Use of High-Frequency Electricity in Health Care Facilities

NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities

Day One
Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter2: Referenced Publications
Definitions
NFPA 99
NFPA 70-2002 NEC
Section 517.2
Chapter 3: Electrical Systems
NFPA 70-2002 NEC Sections
517.11
517.13
517.14
517.16
517.17
517.18
Chapter 3: Electrical Systems
NFPA 70-2002 NEC Sections
517.19 Critical Care Areas
517.20 Wet Locations
Part III Essential Electrical Systems
517.25
517.30
517.31
517.32 Life Safety Branch
517.33 Critical Branch
517.34 Equipment Systems Connection to Alternative Power Source
NFPA 70-2002 NEC Section
517.35 Sources of Power
700.1 Scope
700.2
700.4
700.5
700.6
700.7

NFPA 70-2002 NEC Section
700.12
700.15
700.16
700.17
700.18

Chapter 8: Gas Equipment
Chapter 9: Manufacturer Requirements
NFPA 101 Life Safety Code

Day Two:
Introduction
Chapter 4: Gas and Vacuum Systems
Chapter 5: Environmental Systems
Chapter 7: Electrical Equipment
Chapter 10: Laboratories
Chapter 12: Hospital Requirements
Compressed Gas Cylinders
Chapter 19: Hyperbaric Facilities
Chapter 11: Health Care Emergency
Preparedness 11-1 Scope

Annex 1: The Safe Use of High-Frequency Electricity