NFPA 99 Risk Assessment
Q: How detailed does the NFPA 99 risk assessment requirement have to be for our healthcare facility? Do we have to list every patient room individually on the assessment? Do you have an example of a completed assessment we can review as a point of reference in completing our assessment?
A: Looking at Chapter 4 of NFPA 99-2012, it says systems in healthcare buildings shall be designed to meet Category 1 through Category 4 requirements of NFPA 99-2012. Category 1 being for the use of the most severe situations, and Category 4 being the least severe. The intent by the Technical Committee who wrote this chapter (which was new for the 2012 edition) was this chapter was to apply to new construction only. The problem is, it was not that obvious it was for new construction only, and CMS decided that all systems in new and existing healthcare facilities need to be assessed.
Nowhere in Chapter 4 does it say the risk assessment must be room-by-room. Section 4.2 says the categories shall be determined by following and documenting a defined risk assessment procedure of the building’s systems. But, keep in mind that some building systems, such as the HVAC system, may serve different types of areas (administration, patient care areas) and end up having different category classifications.
Annex section A.4.2 says the risk assessment should follow procedures such as those outlined in the following publications:
ISO/IEC 31010 Risk Management – Risk Assessment Techniques
NFPA 551, Guide for the Evaluation of Fire Risk Assessments
SEMI – S10-0307E, Safety Guideline for Risk Assessment and Risk Evaluation Process
Other formal processes
The intent of Chapter 4 is to evaluate the building’s systems to determine the Category designation, and only applies to the following building systems:
Gas and vacuum systems
Electrical systems
Information technology and communication systems
Plumbing systems
HVAC systems
Electrical equipment
Gas equipment
Readers, if you would like a free copy of a NFPA 99 Risk Assessment template, please send me an email at info@keyeslifesafety.com and write ‘NFPA 99’ in the subject line.
