scope:

This Standard establishes a basic, uniform system of area measurements to facilitate meaningful comparisons between health care facilities throughout Canada, and for executing those procedures (eg, space programming, design, administration, funding of capital programs, etc) that require such measurements.

The measurement techniques established by this Standard apply to both existing buildings and new construction.

Note: When applying these measurement techniques to alterations and renovations of existing buildings, the user of this Standard is advised to exercise judgement in defining the limits of the areas measured and in relating area measurements to the cost of the work because of the widely varied nature of such work.

This Standard is applicable to all floor area measurements in health care facilities, except when assessing building code compliance, in which case the appropriate building code definitions apply.

In this Standard, "shall" is used to express a requirement, ¡e, a provision that the user is obliged to satisfy in order to comply with the standard; "should" is used to express a recommendation or that which is advised but not required; and "may" is used to express an option or that which is permissible within the limits of the standard. Notes accompanying clauses do not include requirements or alternative requirements; the purpose of a note accompanying a clause is to separate from the text explanatory or informative material. Notes to tables and figures are considered part of the table or figure and may be written as requirements. Legends to equations and figures are considered requirements.

The values given in SI (metric) units are the standard. The values given in parentheses are for information only.