Source: https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=25&pt=1&ch=133&rl=162
Timestamp: 2019-08-24 20:06:46
Document Index: 756752871

Matched Legal Cases: ['§133', '§133', '§18', 'art 1191', '§133', '§133', '§133', '§18', '§18', '§18']

SUBCHAPTER I PHYSICAL PLANT AND CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
RULE §133.162 New Construction Requirements
(a) Hospital location. Any proposed new hospital shall be easily accessible to the community and to service vehicles such as delivery trucks, ambulances, and fire protection apparatus. No building may be converted for use as a hospital which, because of its location, physical condition, state of repair, or arrangement of facilities, would be hazardous to the health and safety of the patients.
(1) Hazardous locations.
(A) Underground and above ground hazards. New hospitals or additions to existing hospitals shall not be constructed within 150 feet of easement boundaries or setbacks of hazardous underground locations including but not limited to liquid butane or propane, liquid petroleum or natural gas transmission lines, high pressure lines, and not within the easement of high voltage electrical lines.
(B) Fire hazards. New hospitals and additions to existing hospitals shall not be built within 300 feet of above ground or underground storage tanks containing liquid petroleum or other flammable liquids used in connection with a bulk plant, marine terminal, aircraft refueling, bottling plant of a liquefied petroleum gas installation, or near other hazardous or hazard producing plants.
(2) Undesirable locations.
(A) Nuisance producing sites. New hospitals shall not be located near nuisance producing industrial sites, feed lots, sanitary landfills, or manufacturing plants producing excessive noise or air pollution.
(B) Cemeteries. New hospitals shall not be located near a cemetery in a manner that allows direct view of the cemetery from patient windows.
(C) Flood plains.
(i) New construction. Construction of a new hospital is prohibited in a designated 100-year flood plain.
(ii) Previously licensed hospital. An existing building or a portion of an existing building located in a designated 100-year flood plain which was previously licensed as a hospital but has been vacated or used for purposes other than a hospital, will not be licensed as a hospital.
(iii) Existing hospital. Access and required functional hospital components shall be constructed above the designated flood plain in a new addition to an existing hospital located in a designated 100-year flood plain.
(D) Airports. Construction of new hospitals shall be avoided in close proximity to airports. When hospitals are proposed to be located near airports, recommendations of the Texas Aviation Authority and the Federal Aviation Authority shall apply. A hospital may not be constructed within a rectangular area formed by lines perpendicular to and two miles (10,560 feet) from each end of any runway and by lines parallel to and one-half mile (2,640 feet) from each side of any runway.
(b) Environmental considerations. Development of a hospital site and hospital construction shall be governed by state and local regulations and requirements with respect to the effect of noise and traffic on the community and the environmental impact on air and water.
(c) Hospital site.
(1) Paved roads and walkways. Paved roads shall be provided within the lot lines to provide access from public roads to the main entrance, emergency entrance, entrances serving community activities, and to service entrances, including loading and unloading docks for delivery trucks.
(A) Emergency entrance. Hospitals having an organized emergency services department shall have the emergency entrance well-marked to facilitate entry from the public roads or streets serving the site.
(B) Access to emergency department. Access to the emergency entrance shall not conflict with other vehicular traffic or pedestrian traffic and shall be located so as not to be compromised by floods.
(C) Pedestrian traffic. Finished surface walkways shall be provided for pedestrians.
(2) Parking. Off-street parking shall be available for visitors, employees, and staff. Parking structures directly accessible from a hospital shall be separated with two-hour fire rated noncombustible construction. When used as required means of egress for hospital occupants, parking structures shall comply with National Fire Protection Association 88A, Standard for Parking Structures, 2002 edition. This requirement does not apply to freestanding parking structures. All documents published by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as referenced in this section may be obtained by writing or calling the NFPA at the following address or telephone number: National Fire Protection Association, 1 Batterymarch Park, P.O. Box 9101, Quincy, MA 02269-9101 or (800) 344-3555.
(A) Number of parking places. In the absence of a formal parking study, one parking space shall be provided for each day shift employee plus one space for each patient bed. This ratio may be reduced in an area convenient to a public transportation system or to public parking facilities on the basis of a formal parking study. Parking facilities shall be increased accordingly when the size of existing facilities is increased.
(B) Additional parking. Additional parking shall be required to accommodate medical staff, outpatient and other services when such services are provided.
(C) Emergency and delivery parking. Separate parking facilities shall be provided for ambulances and delivery vehicles.
(d) Building design and construction requirements. Every building and every portion thereof shall be designed and constructed to sustain all dead and live loads in accordance with accepted engineering practices and standards and the local governing building codes. Where there is no local governing building code, the hospital shall be constructed in accordance with the International Building Code, 2003 edition, published by the International Code Council, 5203 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041, telephone (800) 786-4452.
(1) General architectural requirements. All new construction, including conversion of an existing building to a hospital, and establishing a separately licensed hospital in a building with an existing licensed hospital, shall comply with Chapter 18 of the National Fire Protection Association 101, Life Safety Code, 2003 edition (NFPA 101), and Subchapters H and I of this chapter (relating to Fire Prevention and Safety Requirements, and Physical Plant and Construction Requirements, respectively). Construction documents shall be submitted to the department in accordance with §133.167 of this title (relating to Preparation, Submittal, Review and Approval of Plans, and Retention of Records).
(A) Physical environment. A physical environment that protects the health and safety of patients, personnel, and the public shall be provided in each hospital. The physical premises of the hospital and those areas of the hospital's physical structure that are used by the patients (including all stairwells, corridors, and passageways) shall meet the local building and fire safety codes and Subchapters H and I of this chapter.
(B) Construction type. A hospital may occupy an entire building or a portion of a building, provided the hospital portion of the building is separated from the rest of the building in accordance with subparagraph (C) of this paragraph and the entire building or the hospital portion of the building complies with new construction requirements (type of construction permitted for hospitals by NFPA 101, §18.1.6.2), and the entire building is protected with a fire sprinkler system conforming with requirements of National Fire Protection Association 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, 2002 Edition (NFPA 13).
(C) Separate buildings. Portions of a building divided horizontally with two-hour fire rated walls which are continuous (without offsets) from the foundation to above the roof shall be considered as a separate building. Communicating openings in the two-hour wall shall be limited to public spaces such as lobbies and corridors. All such openings shall be protected with self-closing one and one-half hour, Class B fire door assemblies.
(D) Design for the handicapped. Special considerations benefiting handicapped staff, visitors, and patients shall be provided. Each hospital shall comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, Public Law 101-336, 42 United States Code, Chapter 126, and Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1191, Appendix A, Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities, or 16 TAC Chapter 68, Texas Accessibility Standards (TAS), April 1, 1994 edition, issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, under the Texas Architectural Barriers Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 469.
(E) Patient safety. In developing construction documents for submission to the department in accordance with §133.167 of this title, the owner shall comply with the requirements of Health and Safety Code, Chapter 256, Safe Patient Handling and Movement Practices. Section 256.002(b)(8) requires a hospital's governing body to consider the feasibility of incorporating patient handling equipment or the physical space and construction design needed to incorporate that equipment at a later date.
(F) Other regulations. The more stringent standard, code or requirement shall apply when a difference in requirements for construction exists.
(G) Exceeding minimum requirements. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to prohibit a better type of building construction, more exits, or otherwise safer conditions than the minimum requirements specified in this subchapter.
(H) Equivalency. Nothing in this subchapter is intended to prevent the use of systems, methods, or devices of equivalent or superior quality, strength, fire resistance, effectiveness, durability, and safety to those prescribed by this subchapter, providing technical documentation which demonstrates equivalency is submitted to the department for approval.
(I) Freestanding buildings (not for patient use). Separate freestanding buildings for nonpatient use such as the heating plant, boiler plant, laundry, repair workshops, or general storage may be of unprotected noncombustible construction, protected noncombustible construction, or fire-resistive construction and be designed in accordance with other occupancy classifications requirements listed in NFPA 101.
(J) Freestanding buildings (for patient use other than sleeping). Buildings containing areas for patient use which do not contain patient sleeping areas and in which care or treatment is rendered to ambulatory inpatients who are capable of judgment and appropriate physical action for self-preservation under emergency conditions, may be classified as business or ambulatory care occupancies as listed in NFPA 101, Chapters 20 and 38, respectively, instead of hospital occupancy.
(K) Energy conservation. In new construction and in major alterations and additions to existing buildings and in new buildings, electrical and mechanical components shall be selected for efficient utilization of energy. Hospital construction shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Texas Building Energy Performance Standards, Health and Safety Code, Chapter 388.
(L) Heliports. Heliports located on hospital buildings or land used or intended to be used for landing and take off of helicopters shall comply with National Fire Protection Association 418, Standard for Heliports, and 2001 edition.
(2) General detail and finish requirements. Details and finishes in new construction projects, including additions and alterations, shall be in compliance with this paragraph, with NFPA 101, Chapter 18, with local building codes, and with any specific detail and finish requirements for the particular unit as contained in §133.163 of this title (relating to Spatial Requirements for New Construction).
(A) General detail requirements.
(i) Fire safety. Fire safety features, including compartmentation, means of egress, automatic extinguishing systems, inspections, smoking regulations, and other details relating to fire prevention and fire protection shall comply with §133.161 of this title (relating to Requirements for Buildings in Which Existing Licensed Hospitals Are Located), and NFPA 101, Chapter 18 requirements for hospitals. The Fire Safety Evaluation System for Health Care Occupancies contained in the National Fire Protection Association 101A, Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, 2001 edition, Chapter 3, shall not be used in new building construction, renovations or additions to existing hospitals.
(ii) Access to exits. Corridors providing access to all patient, diagnostic, treatment, and sleeping rooms and exits shall be at least eight feet in clear and unobstructed width (except as allowed by NFPA 101, §18.2.3.4, Exceptions 1 and 2), not less than seven feet six inches in height, and constructed in accordance with requirements listed in NFPA 101, §18.3.6.
(iii) Corridors in other occupancies. Public corridors in outpatient, administrative, and service areas which are designed to other than hospital requirements and are the required means of egress from the hospital shall be not less than five feet in width.
(iv) Encroachment into the means of egress. Items such as drinking fountains, telephone booths or stations, and vending machines shall be so located as to not project into and restrict exit corridor traffic or reduce the exit corridor width below the required minimum. Portable equipment shall not be stored so as to project into and restrict exit corridor traffic or reduce the exit corridor width below the required minimum.
(v) Doors in means of egress. All door leaves in the means of egress shall be not less than 44 inches wide or as otherwise permitted for hospitals by NFPA 101, §18.2.3.6.