Electrical Safety and Protection Technologies
| POWERSERVE
Electrical Safety and Protection Technologies
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TELL ME AGAIN... WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT? Question #1: If you were in the bathtub and the blow dryer (plugged-in) fell in with you, wouldn't it be nice to know that the GFCI-protected outlet by the bathroom sink was functioning properly and would "trip" the power off before you were electrocuted? Of Course!! Question #2: If your kids were jumping in and out of the swimming pool and running all around it, wouldn't you want to know that they were protected from electric shock from the attached electrical circuits? Of Course!! We protect ourselves (healthy human beings) around the house in bathrooms, kitchens, pools, hot tubs, and other outdoor receptacles with special protective devices known as Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters - GFCIs. These devices "trip" or cutoff the circuit power when a fault occurs. Many of us have purchased GFCI plug-in testers to verify the operation of our GFCI outlets and circuit breakers in our homes. On the other hand, many hospitals are falling short in the area of Isolated Power System periodic testing. (By the way, these systems cannot be properly tested with plug-in GFCI testers!!) Patients in Operating Rooms and other Critical Care areas are generally not healthy like we are in our homes, making this far more critical:
For these (and other) reasons, it is absolutely imperative that the isolated power systems into which everything plugs-in, and the grounding networks for the rooms, be thoroughly tested on a periodic basis. NFPA 99 (and NFPA 56 in the past) has been very clear and consistent in its' call for IPS, ground system and receptacle testing. This is too important and too much is at risk to ignore it! As is the case in many areas of the hospital:
Through our experience we find that these extremely critical systems are very frequently overlooked and misunderstood. Without periodic testing and knowing the operational or calibration status of this critical equipment, Surgery and Critical Care patients are placed at unnecessary risk of electrical shock the moment their procedures begin. Final Note: Not only is the Operating Room one of the hospital's highest "revenue generators" - it is also, uniquely, an environment where many advanced technologies and techniques merge and where patients are in their most vulnerable state. Vigilant risk management acknowledges that the low per unit cost of performing the "NFPA 99 (6) and (12) Month IPS Periodic Testing" is a very small price to pay for avoiding patient electrical harm or sentinel events. According to a recent ASHE - American Society of Healthcare Engineering study, the per-unit cost of having POWERSERVE provide annual testing and inspection coverage for Isolated Power Systems is less than the per-unit cost for annual maintenance of typical portable Biomedical devices! Yet, hospitals regularly carryout the periodic maintenance and testing of the portable devices while continuing to ignore the critical power systems into which they plug these devices. Contact us now for your IPS Testing quotation: |
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