New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Chapter V - Medical Facilities › Subchapter C - State Hospital Code › Article 2 - Medical Facility Construction › Part 712 - Standards Of Construction For General Hospital Facilities › Subpart 712-1 - Standards For General Hospital Construction Projects Approved Or Completed Prior To October 14, 1998 › Section 712-1.27 - Mechanical requirements

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) Boilers
						shall have the capacity to supply the normal requirements of all steam and hot
						water systems and equipment. The number and arrangement of boilers shall be
						such that when one boiler breaks down or when routine maintenance requires that
						one boiler be temporarily taken out of service, the capacity of the remaining
						boilers shall be sufficient to operate all systems.
(b) Boiler feed pumps, condensate return
						pumps, fuel oil pumps and heating circulating pumps shall be connected and
						installed to provide standby service when any pump breaks down.
(c) Heating systems shall be capable of
						maintaining all rooms other than operating, delivery, recovery, nursery, and
						intensive care rooms at a minimum temperature of 75° F.
(d) Air conditioning systems shall be
						provided, capable of maintaining temperature and relative humidity at or
						between the following ranges: 
                      Temperature (° F)  Relative Humidity (%)
Operating Rooms       70 - 76            50 - 60              
Recovery Rooms        75                 50 - 60              
Intensive Care Rooms  75 - 80            30 - 60              
Delivery Rooms        71 - 75            50                   
Nurseries             75 - 80            30 - 60
Filters for the above systems shall be provided with a
						  minimum efficiency of 90 percent.
(e) All air supplied to the operating and
						delivery rooms and nurseries shall be delivered at or near the ceiling of the
						area served, and all air exhausted from the area shall be removed near floor
						level.
(f) Gravity heating or
						cooling units such as radiators or convectors may not be used in operating,
						delivery, recovery, nursery, intensive care rooms or kitchens.
(g) Patients' rooms shall have operable
						windows, which can be used for ventilation.
(h) Bathing rooms, soiled workrooms, soiled
						linen rooms and janitors' closets shall have mechanical exhaust ventilation. A
						wall or window exhaust fan with back-draft louvers may be accepted.
(i) Toilet rooms, bathrooms and physical
						therapy rooms shall have mechanical exhaust. However, a wall or window exhaust
						fan with back-draft louvers, or operable windows, which can be used for
						ventilation may also be accepted, as equivalents.
(j) Kitchen areas shall have a mechanical
						ventilating system with an equal supply and exhaust and a minimum of 10 air
						changes per hour. If all outside air is used, a filter with at least 35 percent
						efficiency shall be installed in the system. Dishwashing areas shall have an
						exhaust system with a minimum of 10 air changes per hour. Supply air for the
						dishwashing area may be taken from the kitchen. All exhaust air shall be
						discharged directly to the outdoors.
(k) Supply air for central ventilation
						systems for patient areas shall be provided with filters having an efficiency
						of 90 percent if air is recirculated, or 80 percent if all outdoor air is
						used.
(l) An incinerator shall be
						provided to treat biological, infectious, and pathological wastes, unless other
						methods of treatment and disposal of such wastes are approved. Design and
						construction of incinerators and refuse chutes shall meet the requirements for
						approval of the Department of Environmental Conservation and comply with NFPA
						82, Standard on Incinerators and Waste and Linen Handling Systems and
						Equipment, as referenced in section
						711.2(a) of this
						Title.
(m) All handwashing fixtures
						used by medical and nursing staff and food handlers shall be trimmed with
						valves that can be operated without the use of hands. Hand-operated faucets may
						be used on lavatories in patients' rooms and in patients' toilet
						rooms.
(n) Water systems shall be
						provided to supply water of sufficient pressure to operate all fixtures and
						equipment.
(o) Vacuum breakers
						shall be installed on hose bibbs and on all fixtures to which hoses or tubing
						can be attached such as laboratory and janitors' sinks, bedpan-flushing
						attachments and autopsy tables.
(p)
						The hot water heating equipment shall have sufficient capacity to supply water
						at the temperatures and amounts indicated below. The water temperature is to be
						taken at hot water point of use or inlet to processing equipment.
                            Clinical  Dietary  Laundry
Gallons (per hour per bed)  6-1/4     4        4-1/2  
Temperature (° F)           110       120*     160**
*Wash water and rinse water when used as the sanitizer
						  is to be provided at the temperature required by the equipment manufacturer,
						  and 170° F when manual methods are used.
**Lower temperature is permitted if a controlled
						  program of sanitizing has prior approval of the department.
(q) Building sewers shall discharge into a
						municipal sewerage system. Where such a system is not available, an approved
						sewage treatment system shall be used.