NFPA® 99
Health Care Facilities Code
2012 Edition
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Copyright © 2011 National Fire Protection Association®. All Rights Reserved.
NFPA® 99
Health Care Facilities Code
2012 Edition
This edition of NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code, was prepared by the Technical Commit- ees on Electrical Systems, Fundamentals, Health Care Emergency Management and Security, yperbaric and Hypobaric Facilities, Mechanical Systems, Medical Equipment, and Piping
ystems, released by the Technical Correlating Committee on Health Care Facilities, and cted on by NFPA at its June Association Technical Meeting held June 12–15, 2011, in Boston, A. It was issued by the Standards Council on August 11, 2011, with an effective date of ugust 31, 2011, and supersedes all previous editions.
Tentative interim amendments (TIAs) to Chapters 8 and 9 were issued on August 11, 2011. or further information on tentative interim amendments, see Section 5 of the NFPA Regu-
ations Governing Committee Projects available at: http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/ odesStandards/TIAErrataFI/TIARegs.pdf
This edition of NFPA 99 was approved as an American National Standard on August 31, 2011.
Origin and Development of NFPA 99 The idea for this document grew as the number of documents under the original NFPA
ommittee on Hospitals grew. By the end of 1980, there existed 12 documents on a variety of ubjects, 11 directly addressing fire-related problems in and about health care facilities. These ocuments covered health care emergency preparedness, inhalation anesthetics, respiratory
herapy, laboratories in health-related institutions, hyperbaric facilities, hypobaric facilities, nhalation anesthetics in ambulatory care facilities, home use of respiratory therapy, medical– urgical vacuum systems in hospitals, essential electrical systems for health care facilities, safe se of electricity in patient care areas of health care facilities, and safe use of high-frequency lectricity in health care facilities.
A history on the documents that covered these topics can be found in the “Origin and evelopment of NFPA 99” in the 1984 edition of NFPA 99.
What was then the Health Care Facilities Correlating Committee reviewed the matter eginning in late 1979 and concluded that combining all the documents under its jurisdic- ion would be beneficial to those who used those documents, for the following reasons:
1) The referenced documents were being revised independently of each other. Combining all the individual documents into one document would place all of them on the same revision cycle.
2) It would place in one unit many documents that referenced each other. 3) It would be an easier and more complete reference for the various users of the document
(e.g., hospital engineers, medical personnel, designers and architects, and the various types of enforcing authorities).
To learn if this proposal was desired or desirable to users of the individual documents, the ommittee issued a request for public comments in the spring of 1981, asking whether pur- hasers of the individual documents utilized more than one document in the course of their ctivities and whether combining these individual documents would be beneficial. Seventy- ive percent of responses supported such a proposal, with 90 percent of health care facilities nd organizations supportive of it. Based on this support, the Correlating Committee pro- eeded with plans to combine all the documents under its jurisdiction into one document.
In January, 1982, a compilation of the latest edition of each of the 12 individual documents nder the jurisdiction of the Correlating Committee was published. It was designated FPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code. The Correlating Committee also entered the document
nto the revision cycle reporting to the 1983 Fall Meeting for the purpose of formally adopting he document.
For the 1984 edition of NFPA 99, in addition to technical changes, administrative and rganizational changes were made.
otection Association are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts 02169.
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99–2 HEALTH CARE FACILITIES CODE
2
Copyright 2013 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Licensed, by agreement, for individual use and single download on August 6, 2013 to IUPUI for designated user BARBARA CHRISTE|. No other reproduction or transmission in any form permitted without written permission of NFPA. For inquires or to report unauthorized use, contact licensing@nfpa.org.
For the 1987 edition of NFPA 99, the third and final step in the process of combining the previous individual documents took place — that of integrating the content of these individual documents into a cohesive document. In addition, there were again technical changes made. The 1987 edition also saw the incorporation of NFPA 56F, Standard on Nonflammable Medical Piped Gas Systems, into NFPA 99.
For the 1990 edition of NFPA 99, some structural changes were made and some modifiers were added to make it easier to determine where requirements are applicable. Technical changes made included the following: correlation with NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®; changes for compressed medical air systems on the use of gas-powered medical devices operating at a gauge pressure of 200 psi, and piped gas systems in general; changes in leakage current limits for patient care electrical appliances; clarification that patient care areas and wet locations are mutually exclusive; and further guidance on the effects of a disaster on staff.
For the 1993 edition of NFPA 99 there were further efforts to make the document more user-friendly (e.g., placing all “recommended” guidance either in notes or in the appendix). Significant technical changes included the follow- ing: adding requirements and recommendations to further prevent or minimize fires in operating rooms; making major changes to requirements in Chapter 4 for installing, testing, inspecting, verifying, and maintaining nonflam- mable medical piped gas systems; adding new sections on dental compressed air and dental vacuum requirements in Chapter 4; changing leakage current limits of patient care–related electrical appliances to correlate more closely with an international document on the subject; revising laboratory requirements to correlate more closely with NFPA 45, Standard for Laboratories Using Chemicals; changing essential electrical system requirements in ambulatory health care clinics and medical/dental offices; and extensively revising hyperbaric chamber requirements (Chapter 19).
For the 1996 edition of NFPA 99, further changes to make the document more user-friendly were made. These included restructuring Chapters 3 and 4 so that all requirements for a Type 1, 2, or 3 essential electrical system, or a Level 1, 2, 3, or 4 piped gas or vacuum system, were contained in one section.
Other technical changes included the following:
(1) Moving requirements on flammable anesthetizing locations and the use of flammable inhalation anesthetics to a new Appendix 2
(2) Upgrading the subject of emergency preparedness from guidance to a new chapter containing requirements (3) Adding a new chapter (Chapter 18) on home health care (4) Revising Section 1-1 to reflect the intent that NFPA 99 applies only to facilities treating human beings (5) In Chapter 3, revising load testing requirements for emergency generators to reference NFPA 110, Standard for
Emergency and Standby Power Systems, and revising emergency lighting criteria for operating rooms (6) In Chapter 4, revising requirements for medical compressed air systems, dental compressed air systems, waste
anesthetic gas disposal systems, and dental piped gas/vacuum systems; adding a new section on “headwall units” (“manufactured assemblies”); and clarifying and moving requirements for transfilling containers of liquid oxygen to Chapter 8
(7) In Chapter 8, adding requirements for storage rooms containing cylinders and containers totaling less than 3000 ft3
(8) In Chapters 12 to 17, revising criteria for gas and vacuum systems (9) In Chapter 19, in addition to many technical changes, adding criteria for mobile hyperbaric facilities
For the 1999 edition, significant technical and structural changes included the following:
(1) Chapters 13, 14, and 15 (on ambulatory health care centers, clinics, and medical/dental offices, respectively) were replaced completely by new Chapter 13 covering health care facilities other than hospitals, nursing homes, and limited care facilities as defined in Chapter 2.
(2) Requirements for Level 2 gas and vacuum systems were developed (Section 4.4 in Chapter 4). (3) Subsections 12.3.4, 16.3.4, and 7.3.4 were revised to correlate with the two significant changes in (1) and (2). (4) In Chapter 3, load testing requirements for emergency power supplies of the essential electrical system were
changed through reference, and the testing interval (“monthly”) was reworded to be more responsive to needs of health care facilities.
(5) Clarification of transfer switches and branches of the emergency system was made. (6) Clarification on the use of emergency power supplies other than for emergency power was made in 3.4.1.1.5. (7) Paragraph 4.3.1.2, Distribution Requirements for Level 1 Gas Systems, was completely revised and restructured. (8) Chapter 4 was made more user-friendly by reducing the number of internal cross-references between Sections
4.3 and 4.5. (9) The order of installation and testing requirements for piped gas and vacuum systems was revised.
(10) Emphasis on emergency preparedness was made in Chapter 11 and its appendix material. (11) Chapter 19, “Hyperbaric Facilities,” was extensively revised in the areas of electrical wiring, air quality, ventilation
lighting, equipment, communication, and safety management. (12) A new chapter (Chapter 20) on freestanding birthing centers was added.
The 2002 edition included format and technical revisions. The Manual of Style for NFPA Technical Committee Docu- ments, April 2000 edition, was applied to this document, resulting in changes to its structure and format. Introductory material in Chapter 1 was formatted for consistency among all NFPA documents. Referenced publications that apply to the document were relocated from the last chapter to Chapter 2, resulting in the renumbering of chapters. Informa- tional references remained in the last annex. Appendices were designated as annexes. Definitions in Chapter 3 were