Changes to Life Safety Code Compliance in Business Occupancies
Q: What changes, if any, will I need to be prepared for July 1, 2021, when Joint Commission begins inspecting for Life Safety Code compliance in Business Occupancies?
A: I don’t know; I don’t know your situation so I cannot say what changes you will have to do when Joint Commission starts inspecting business occupancies for compliance with the Life Safety Code. There have not been any changes to the Life Safety Code since CMS adopted the 2012 edition in July, 2016. What’s changed, is Joint Commission has announced they will have a new section in their manual on Life Safety Code compliance specifically for Business Occupancies.
To be sure, compliance with the Life Safety Code has been a requirement for business occupancies for a long time, like many decades. That means your organization has been required to comply with all that the Life Safety Code requires for business occupancies longer than you have been employed at your facility. The LSC does have fewer requirements for business occupancies as compared to healthcare occupancies, but there have been requirements. The main reason this is catching people by surprise now, is the accreditation organizations did not survey much for Life Safety compliance outside of a hospital or a surgical center. Now that has changed.
One of the most misunderstood issues has been the inspection, testing, and maintenance of features of life safety, such as:
Fire alarm systems
Fire extinguishers
Sprinkler systems
Alternative fire suppression systems
Kitchen hood cleaning
Kitchen hood fire suppression systems
Emergency power generators
Medical gas systems
ILSMs or ALSMs
Fire damper test
Smoke damper test
Overhead rolling fire doors
Side-hinged swinging fire doors
‘EXIT’ sign inspection
Battery-powered emergency light inspections
Elevator recall
NFPA 99 Building Assessment
GFCI / LIM Panel test
Emergency showers
Emergency eyewash
Fire drills
If you have any of the above features, then you must inspect, test, and maintain them in the same way and frequency as you do for the hospital (with a few exceptions). Fire and smoke dampers have to be tested every 4 years in a business occupancy rather than every 6 years in a hospital, and of course fire drills are done annually in business occupancies rather that once per quarter per shift in hospitals.
Readers, if you would like a free Life Safety documentation form that can guide you on the frequencies of inspection and testing in business occupancies, please send an email to info@keyeslifesafety.com and put “LS Bus Occ” in the subject line.
