Why are we here? Because we’re here!

By Steve MacArthur, Hospital Safety Consultant

One item came up on the radar this past week or so and it appears (I poked around in the archival blogosphere and could find no mention) that I’ve not discussed this before—mea maxima culpa! This has the potential for generating some findings, perhaps at a higher risk level than would seem reasonable in the moment, but I guess that will sort itself out one way or the other.

I can’t quite remember how it all came to be, but at some point in the misty past, I was “schooled” that decontamination showers (like the ones that you typically find in areas near emergency room ambulance entrances) are not required to undergo weekly testing as they are not, as defined, “emergency eyewash or shower equipment” and, thus, not subject to the requirements of ANSI Z358.1 Standard for Emergency Eyewash and Shower Equipment. I was skeptical at the time, but I can say that the latter part of that concept is, indeed, correct in that decontamination shower equipment is not subject to ANSI Z358.1. But it is not correct relative to the weekly testing sequence because there is an ANSI standard—ANSI 113 Standard for Fixed and Portable Decontamination Shower Units—that covers decontamination showers and, lo and behold, it covers exactly what is required for those pesky fixed and portable decon shower units. So we have:

7.2 Fixed shower units shall be activated weekly for a period long enough to verify operation and ensure that flushing fluid is available.

That should sound familiar as a general concept, so you may need to add the decon shower(s) to the weekly to-do list, but things get even more interesting for the portables:

7.3 Portable shower units shall be deployed every 3 months to ensure proper operation.

I’m going to guess that we have some room for improvement on the weekly testing side of things, but I’m going to guess that we may even more of an opportunity on the portable side of things (those of you who possess portable decon showers). I daresay it’s almost enough to make someone not want to have anything elaborate or portable when it comes to decon shower equipment. I’ll let you gnaw on that for a bit…

About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Greeley Company in Danvers, Mass. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is contributing editor for Healthcare Safety Leader. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.