Product Description

By The Joint Commission Department of Engineering and James K. Lathrop, FSFPE

Fire in a health care organization represents a serious threat to patient, staff, and visitor safety. Most individuals receiving health care are incapable of self-preservation and thus unable to quickly exit the immediate area of the threat—let alone the building—in the event of a fire. To ensure fire safety, The Joint Commission requires health care organizations to comply with the 2012 edition of the Life Safety Code^®*—a set of standards from the National Fire Protection Association that specifies construction and operational conditions to minimize fire hazards and provide a system of safety in case of fire—as well as its own Life Safety (LS) standards.

Although they are similar in many ways, subtle differences exist between the NFPA Life Safety Code and The Joint Commission LS chapter. Appreciating these nuances, The Joint Commission and the NFPA have determined the need for a resource that explains exactly how the two sets of requirements relate. Written by leading life safety experts in the health care field, this second edition of The Joint Commission/NFPA Life Safety Book for Health Care Organizations provides guidance on complying with new and revised standards following the adoption of the 2012 edition of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life Safety Code. This book explains exactly how each Joint Commission LS standard and element of performance (EP) relates to the 2012 code plus other applicable NFPA regulations, and it provides hands-on strategies for compliance. The book, designed for organizations classified as a “health care occupancy,” is an invaluable resource in sorting out and meeting Joint Commission and NFPA fire safety requirements.

Key Topics: 

• • Joint Commission LS standards and NFPA Life Safety Code requirements
• • Life safety compliance
• • Explanation of the LS chapter’s relation to the Life Safety Code
• • Strategies to help simplify compliance with the LS chapter and the NFPA codes

Key Features:

• • Full Joint Commission standards language; full applicable NFPA code language
• • Expert commentary from nationally-recognized fire safety experts 
• • Easy-to-read and understand format, providing standard and EP text and expert commentary followed by code text and additional commentary 

Standards: Life Safety (LS)

Setting: Hospitals, critical access hospitals, nursing care centers

Audience: Facility managers, emergency managers, life safety experts, risk managers, and others 

* Life Safety Code is a registered trademark of the National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA.

Table of Contents

Click on the Table of Contents below for details.

Table of Contents

Contributors

About the Authors

James K. Lathrop, FSFPE, is vice president at Koffel Associates, Inc., a fire protection and life safety design firm. Lathrop was the assistant chief of the Niantic Fire Department for 50 years. For 17 years he served as the chief life safety engineer at the NFPA. He earned his Fire Protection Engineering degree from the University of Maryland.

The Joint Commission Engineering Department comprises Life Safety Code® experts and experienced health care engineers who break down Joint Commission standards, provide practical compliance examples, and share proven safety strategies.

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