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QUALITY PROFESSIONAL ELECTRICAL SERVICE

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Electrical Safety in Common Medical Type Areas

The purpose of this paper is to raise an awareness amongst medical professionals regarding "medical electrical" equipment, installations, their safe use and the inservice testing required. It is not the intention of this paper to discuss at any length the detailed and often complex requirements of Cardiac Protected areas. It will concentrate on requirements for medical electrical appliances and their use, in the more common Unprotected and Body Protected areas found in hospitals, private clinics, medical and dental practices, and dedicated medical areas in other places (eg. physiotherapists).

 

The following are some of the regulations and standards that must be complied with:

NZSECP3 - Electrical safety of apparatus and material.

NZSECP12 - The safe use of electricity in medical locations and associated areas.

AS 2500 ­ Guide to the safe use of electricity in patient care.

AS 3003 ­ Electrical installations ­ Patient treatment areas in hospitals.

AS 3009 ­ Electrical installations ­ Emergency power supplies in hospitals.

AS 3013 ­ Electrical installations ­ Wiring systems for specific applications.

AS 3190 ­ Approval and test specification ­ Residual current devices (current­operated earth­leakage devices).

AS 3551 ­ Acceptance testing and in­service testing ­ Electromedical Equipment.

 

The safe use of electrically operated medical equipment is dependant on a variety of factors mainly:

  1. Equipment has to be safe, i.e. be built to the relevant New Zealand (or approved) standard.
  2. Installations have to be safe, i.e. designed and built to the relevant New Zealand wiring regulations (and/or approved) standard.
  3. The users need to know the safety and operational requirements of equipment.
  4. The users need to know where in an installation, equipment can be operated in a safe and correct manner.
  5. Ongoing safety needs to be maintained by conducting in-service tests on both the installation and equipment.
Installation (building) Area Classes

There are three classifications of circuit wiring protection.

Cardiac Protected

This is areas where procedures are undertaken with an electrically exposed heart. Where patient circuits are either within or in close proximity to the heart.

In these areas specially protected equipment and area protection are required.

Unprotected

This is where equipment is not physically attached to the patient and can only make inadvertent or casual contact with the patient.

In this area nothing additional is required to the supply protection other than what is normally provided in domestic or industrial situations.

Body Protected

This is where equipment is used in procedures involving connection of a patient circuit to the external parts of the body (with no intrusion).

For many of these procedures protection is incorporated within the equipment. However with a lot of equipment it is hard to identify if it offers body protection or not, hence it is advisable that selected areas of an installation be wired to this standard and identified as such.

This not an onerous task and generally involves the installation of higher sensitivity RCD units and effective signage. It does involve regular mandatory checking of both equipment and the installation.

Mandatory Maintenance and Testing of Body Protected Situations

NZECP 12 lays out the frequency of such testing.

For Appliances

Type of appliances

Period between tests
Appliances in general areas 6 months
Appliances in constant use subject to possible mechanical damage 3 months

For Installations

Item

Type of inspection / test

Period between tests

Socket-outlets and switches Visual (external) examination 1 month
Basic operation/ performance of RCD's Integral test facility, e.g. test button to be activated 1 month
Earthing facilities, including loose or faulty socket-outlet contacts Detailed visual examination and measurement of continuity 12 months

 

Reinspection & Certification of patient treatment areas

Reinspection of installations associated with patient treatment areas is also required every four years. Certificates for these reinspections may only be issued by an electrical inspector.

For an official comment/advice you may contact

Inspector (Electrical-Medical)

Ministry of Commerce

Wellington

Ph 04-472-0030

O.S.H. and general electrical safety

Hazard identification and management is the key to complying with O.S.H.

Electricity is generally the only lethal hazard in most work places.

Under section 6 of the Health & Safety in Employment Act 1992 it states;

"Every employer shall take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees while at work"

This is the section of the act most Companies are prosecuted under, for their failure to comply.

To meet your obligations under the act you have to be able to legally prove that you have taken all practicable steps. Testing and warranting equipment to NZS3760, a new general standard for "In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment", is at present the simplest and only documented way to ensure equipment is safe for an employee to use. It must be noted that equipment will need to have complied with it’s appropriate New Zealand Standard at time of purchase.