scope:

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.

Annex D covers principles of design and use of electrical and electronic appliances generating high-frequency currents for medical treatment in hospitals, clinics, ambulatory care facilities, and dental offices, whether fixed or mobile.

Areas Not Addressed. The following areas are not addressed:

(1) Communication equipment, resuscitation equipment (e.g., defibrillators), or physiological stimulators (e.g., used for anesthesia, acupuncture).

(2) Experimental or research apparatus built to order, or under development, provided such apparatus is used under qualified supervision and provided the builder demonstrates to the authority having jurisdiction that the apparatus has a degree of safety equivalent to that described in Annex D.

Annex E retains the established requirements that would be necessary for the safe use of flammable inhalation anesthetics should the use of this type of anesthetic be reinstituted.

Chapter 4, Electrical Systems, covers the performance, maintenance, and testing of electrical systems (both normal and essential) used within health care facilities.

Areas Not Addressed. The following areas are not addressed in NFPA 99, but are addressed in other NFPA documents:

(1) Specific requirements for wiring and installation on equipment are covered in NFPA 70, National Electrical Code®.

(2) Requirements for illumination and identification of means of egress in health care facilities are covered in NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®.

(3) Requirements for fire protection signaling systems.

(4) Requirements for fire pumps are covered in NFPA 20, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Pumps for Fire Protection, except that the alternate source of power shall be permitted to be the essential electrical system.

(5) Requirements for the installation of stationary engines and gas turbines are covered in NFPA 37, Standard for the Installation and Use of Stationary Combustion Engines and Gas Turbines.

Chapter 5, Gas and Vacuum Systems, covers the performance, maintenance, installation, and testing of the following:

(1) Nonflammable medical gas systems with operating pressures below a gage pressure of 2068 kPa (300 psi)

(2) Vacuum systems used within health care facilities

(3) Waste anesthetic gas disposal (WAGD) systems, also referred to as scavenging

(4) Manufactured assemblies that are intended for connection to the medical gas, vacuum, or WAGD systems (also referred to as scavenging)

Areas Not Addressed. Requirements for portable compressed gas systems are covered in Chapter 9, Gas Equipment.

Chapter 6, Environmental Systems, covers the performance, maintenance, and testing of the environmental systems used within health care facilities.

Chapter 7, Materials, covers the hazards associated with the use of flammable and combustible materials used within health care facilities.

Chapter 8, Electrical Equipment, covers the performance, maintenance, and testing of electrical equipment used within health care facilities.

Chapter 9, Gas Equipment, covers the performance, maintenance, and testing of gas equipment used within health care facilities.

Chapter 10, Manufacturer Requirements, covers the performance, maintenance, and testing, with regard to safety, required of manufacturers of equipment used within health care facilities.

Chapter 11, Laboratories, establishes criteria to minimize the hazards of fire and explosions in laboratories, as defined in Chapter 3.

Areas Not Addressed. Subsection 1.1.11 is not intended to cover hazards resulting from any of the following:

(1) Chemicals

(2) Radioactive materials

(3)*Biological materials that will not result in fires or explosions

Chapter 12, Health Care Emergency Management, establishes minimum criteria for health care facility emergency management in the development of a program for effective disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery.

Chapter 13, Hospital Requirements, addresses safety requirements of hospitals.

Chapter 14, Other Health Care Facilities, addresses safety requirements for facilities, or portions thereof, that provide diagnostic and treatment services to patients in health care facilities. Requirements for specific health care facilities are addressed in the following chapters:

(1) Hospitals-Chapter 13

(2) Nursing homes-Chapter 17

(3) Limited care facilities-Chapter 18

Chapter 17, Nursing Home Requirements, addresses safety requirements of nursing homes.

Chapter 18, Limited Care Facility Requirements, covers safety requirements of limited care facilities.

Chapter 19, Electrical and Gas Equipment for Home Care, addresses the requirements for the safe use of electrical and gas equipment used for home care medical treatment.

Chapter 20, Hyperbaric Facilities, covers the recognition of and protection against hazards of an electrical, explosive, or implosive nature, as well as fire hazards associated with hyperbaric chambers and associated facilities that are used, or intended to be used, for medical applications and experimental procedures at gage pressures from 0 to 690 kPa (0 to 100 psi). Chapter 20 applies to both single- and multiple-occupancy hyperbaric chambers, to animal chambers the size of which precludes human occupancy, and to those in which the chamber atmosphere contains an oxygen partial pressure greater than an absolute pressure of 21.3 kPa (3.09 psi) (0.21 atmospheres).

Chapter 21, Freestanding Birthing Centers, addresses the requirements for the safe use of electrical and gas equipment, and for electrical, gas, and vacuum systems used for the delivery and care of infants in freestanding birthing centers.