ASHE just published a new 80+ page management monograph detailing a comprehensive program for managing hospital emergency power systems.  This document addresses recent lessons learned, best practices, and new regulatory issues.  Readers who have questions on the content of the monograph are invited to email the author at DStymiest@ssr-inc.com.

Entitled Managing Hospital Emergency Power Systems: Testing, Operation, Maintenance, Vulnerability Mitigation, and Power Failure Planning, the monograph holistically describes a comprehensive and proactive management program for emergency power systems.

Since this monograph is intended to reflect recommended best practices, its content is not limited to older CMS-imposed regulatory requirements. However it does discuss changes in the 2012 through 2014 editions of relevant ANSI and NFPI standards.

There are new sections on:

• Commissioning emergency power systems
• Finding and mitigating emergency power system vulnerabilities
• Conducting more robust weekly emergency power system inspections
• Mitigating emergency power system vulnerabilities with best practice means and methods

The new monograph also expands previous discussions from the 2009 edition to include the latest thinking on:

• Installation acceptance testing
• Emergency power test procedures
• Vulnerability analyses and risk assessments
• Maintenance of generators, transfer switches and other system components

The new section on commissioning emergency power systems discusses its importance, the types of vulnerabilities commonly found during commissioning processes, and the topic of functional performance testing.

The new discussion on conducting more robust weekly inspections addresses system elements and areas beyond just the generators and batteries.

The comprehensive section on testing covers not only the required elements to satisfy authorities having jurisdiction but also best practices related to operational impacts and second order consequences of hospital emergency power testing activities.

Determining the actual emergency power demand loading and other utility management considerations are covered within the section on operation.  Power failure contingency planning and other related emergency management topics are covered within the section on planning for power failures.

ASHE members can download the new monograph for free from ASHE’s website at http://www.ashe.org/resources/management_monographs/mg2014stymiest.html#.VFzZIsmwX7Y.  Those who are not ASHE members will be able to purchase the monograph from the ASHE Store.

NFPA Disclaimer: Although the writer is Chairman of the NFPA Technical Committee on Emergency Power Supplies, which is responsible for NFPA 110 and 111, the views and opinions expressed in this article are purely those of the author and shall not be considered the official position of NFPA or any of its Technical Committees and shall not be considered to be, nor be relied upon as, a Formal Interpretation. Readers are encouraged to refer to the entire texts of all referenced documents.