Confidential Florida Hospital, Life Safety Code Compliance, Medical Gas System Design

Burns was entrusted to strategize a fire-safety code deficiency plan, coordinating with enforcement authority and hospital officials to engineer a Waste Anesthesia Gas Disposal (WAGD) redesign, while ensuring minimal downtime of critical operating room facilities.

At one of the largest hospitals in Florida, a modification of operating room anesthesia equipment connected the WAGD hoses to existing vacuum outlets in violation of National Fire Protection Association safety requirements (NFPA 99). The vacuum system configuration triggered a K-tag noncompliance notice, the code violation issued by state agencies surveying on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).

Burns led the compliance strategy:

Securing an extension from the local enforcement authority,
Coordinating with the manufacturer to identify proper hose equipment, and
Designing a code-compliant gas vacuum system.

The retrofit minimized hospital disruption, routing existing vacuum lines through operating room walls to new ceiling WAGD interfaces, avoiding the need for costly installation of new piping or larger-scale construction activities.

Similar projects include a recent New York hospital LSC compliance survey.

Location

Florida

Client

Confidential

Industry

Healthcare

Expertise

High Performance Buildings

Hospital Building Systems

Life Safety