This section contains the Washington state amendments to the 2014 edition of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Outpatient Facilities as developed by the Facilities Guideline Institute and published by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital Association, 155 North Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60606. The language below will replace the corresponding language of the 2014 edition of the Guidelines in its entirety. Subsections with an asterisk (*) preceding a paragraph number indicates that explanatory or educational material can be found in an appendix item located in the 2014 Guidelines.

Authorities adopting these standards as codes may approve plans and specifications that contain deviations if it is determined that the applicable intent or objective has been met.

Washington State Building Code (http://www.sbcc.wa.gov/)

Appendix note:

The security portion of the safety risk assessment should consider the placement of emergency call devices in public and staff toilets.

Add footnote to this table:

The security specialist shall review portions of the infection control component, specifically: Construction and demolition related risk such as planned utility shutdowns, relocations, and pathway disruptions.

(1) At least one handwashing station shall be provided for every four patient care stations or fewer and for each major fraction thereof.

(2) Based on the arrangement of the patient care stations, handwashing stations shall be evenly distributed and provide uniform distance from the two patient care stations farthest from a handwashing station.

(3) Post anesthesia care unit (PACU) handwashing stations. At least one handwashing station with hands-free or wrist-blade operable controls shall be available for every six beds or fraction thereof, uniformly distributed to provide equal access from each bed.

2.1-2.1.6.7.4 Nourishment function may be combined with a clean utility without duplication of sinks and work counters.

2.1-2.6.12.3 Environmental services and soiled rooms may be combined.

2.1-4.3.1.3 Regulations. Construction, equipment, and installation of food and nutrition service facilities in a hospital shall comply with the requirements of:

(1) U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

(2) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

(3) Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL).

(4) NSF International.

(5) Chapter 246-215 WAC, the Washington state food code.

2.1-7.2.2.1 Corridor width. For corridor width requirements, see applicable building codes. In addition to building code requirements, in areas typically used for stretcher transport a minimum corridor or aisle width of 6 feet shall be provided.

(1) Unless the safety risk assessment determines that handrails are not needed, handrails shall be installed on one side of patient use corridors.

(2) Handrails shall comply with local, state, and federal requirements referenced in Section 1.1-4.1 (Designs Standards for the Disabled) as amended in this section.

(3) Rail ends shall return to the wall or floor.

(4) Handrails, including fasteners, shall be smooth and have a nontextured surface free of rough edges.

(5) Handrails shall have eased edges and corners.

(6) Handrail finishes shall be cleanable.

2.1-7.2.3.1 Flooring and wall bases.

2.1-7.2.3.1(6) The following rooms shall have floor and wall base assemblies that are monolithic and have an integral coved wall base that is carried up the wall a minimum of 6 inches (150 mm) and is tightly sealed to the wall:

(a) Operating rooms;

(b) Interventional imaging rooms, including cardiac catheterization labs;

(c) Cesarean delivery rooms;

(d) Cystoscopy, urology, and minor surgical procedure rooms;

(e) Endoscopy procedure rooms;

(f) Endoscopy instrument processing rooms;

(g) IV and chemotherapy preparation rooms;

(h) Airborne infection isolation (AII) rooms;

(i) Protective environment (PE) rooms;

(j) Anterooms to AII and PE rooms, where provided;

(k) Sterile processing rooms;

(l) Central processing rooms.

2.1-8.3.4.3(7) When installed in patient care areas, uplight fixtures or toughs that create ledges which collect dust shall be provided with a lens on the top of the fixture to facilitate cleaning.

Appendix Language:

A2.1-8.3.7.3 Where new construction or renovation work is undertaken, hospitals should make every effort to install assistance systems in all public and staff toilets.

2.1-8.4.3.1 General

(1) Materials. The material used for plumbing fixtures shall be nonabsorptive and acid-resistant.

(2) Clearances. Water spouts used in lavatories and sinks shall have clearances adequate to:

(a) avoid contaminating utensils and the contents of carafes, etc.

(b) provide a minimum clearance of 6" from the bottom of the spout to the flood rim of the sink to support proper hand washing asepsis technique without the user touching the faucet, control levers, or the basin.

Appendix Language:

A2.1-8.4.3.2(3) Aerator usage on water spouts may contribute to the enhanced growth of waterborne organisms and is not recommended.

Modify table as follows:

2.2-2.2.2 Patient Room

2.2-2.2.2.1 Capacity

(1) In new construction, the maximum number of beds per room shall be two.

(2) Where renovation work is undertaken and the present capacity is more than one patient, maximum room capacity shall be no more than the present capacity with a maximum of four patients.

2.2-3.3.3.3(2) The room shall be physically separated from the hybrid operating room with walls and a door. A door is not required when the control is built, maintained, and controlled exactly the same as the operating room.

2.2-3.3.4.2 (2)(b)(ii) Where bays are used, an aisle with a minimum clearance of 6 feet (1.83 meters) independent of the foot clearance between patient stations or other fixed objects shall be provided.

2.2-3.3.4.3(b) PACU size. A minimum of 1.5 postanesthesia patient care stations or as determined by the functional program per operating room shall be provided.

2.2-3.4.2.1 (1)(b) CT scanner room(s) shall be sized to allow a minimum clearance of 4 feet (122 centimeters) on the patient transfer and foot side of the table and 3 feet (91 centimeters) on nontransfer side of the table.

2.2-3.4.4.2(2) The MRI scanner room(s) shall have a minimum clearance of 4 feet (122 centimeters) on the patient transfer side and foot of the table and 3 feet (91 centimeters) on nontransfer side of the table. The door swing shall not interfere with the patient transfer.

2.2-3.5.2.2 Ceilings. Ceilings in interventional imaging procedure rooms shall be designed as semirestricted, see 2.1-7.2.3.3(3) for finishes.

2.2-4.2.1 General: Until final adoption of USP 797 by either federal or other state programs, facilities may request plan review for conformance to USP 797 with their initial submission to the Department of Health, Construction Review Services.

2.4-1.1 Application. Chapter 2.4 contains specific requirements for small rural hospitals. The functional program for these facilities must clearly describe a scope of services that is appropriate for chapter 2.4. For facilities with services that are not appropriately addressed in chapter 2.4, the appropriate portions of chapters 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 will apply.

3.1-3.2.2.2 Space requirements

(3) Existing general purpose examination rooms under review for addition to a hospital license shall be no less than 80 gross square feet and provide a minimum 2'-6" clearance around the examination table.

3.1-3.2.3.2(c) A room arrangement in which an examination table, recliner, bed or chair is placed at an angle, closer to one wall than another or against a wall to accommodate the type of patient being served shall be permitted.

3.1-7.2.2.2(2)

This subsection is not adopted.

3.1-7.2.3.1(5) The following rooms shall have floor and wall base assemblies that are monolithic and have an integral coved wall base that is carried up the wall a minimum of 6 inches (150 mm) and is tightly sealed to the wall:

(a) Operating rooms;

(b) Interventional imaging rooms, including cardiac catheterization labs;

(c) Cystoscopy, urology and minor surgical procedure rooms;

(d) Endoscopy procedure rooms;

(e) Endoscopy instrument processing rooms;

(f) IV and chemotherapy preparation rooms;

(g) Airborne infection isolation (AII) rooms;

(h) Anterooms to AII and PE rooms, where provided;

(i) Sterile processing rooms.

3.1-8.4.3.1 General

(2) Clearances. Water spouts used in lavatories and sinks shall have clearances adequate to:

(a) avoid contaminating utensils and the contents of carafes, etc.

(b) provide a minimum clearance of 6" from the bottom of the spout to the flood rim of the sink to support proper hand washing asepsis technique without the user touching the faucet, control levers, or the basin.

Appendix Language:

A3.1-8.4.3 Aerator usage on water spouts may contribute to the enhanced growth of waterborne organisms and is not recommended.

3.2-1.3.2 Parking

This section is not adopted.

3.5-1.1 Application. This chapter applies to facilities that provide urgent care to the public but are not freestanding emergency departments. The functional program for the facilities must clearly describe a scope of services that are appropriate for urgent care, as determined by the department.

3.7-1.3.2 Parking

This section is not adopted.

3.7-3.6.13.1(2) Location. The sterile processing room shall be designed to provide a one-way traffic pattern of contaminated materials/instruments to clean materials/instruments to the sterilizer equipment. Two remotely located doors shall be provided as follows:

(a) Entrance to the contaminated side of the sterile processing room shall be from the semirestricted area.

(b) Exit from the clean side of the sterile processing room to the semirestricted area or to an operating room shall be permitted.

3.7-5.1.2 On-Site Sterilization Facilities. When sterilization occurs on-site, one of the following conditions shall apply:

(1) Outpatient surgical facilities with three or fewer operating rooms where immediate use sterilization occurs on-site shall meet the requirements in Section 3.7-3.6.13 (Sterile Processing Room) or shall meet the requirements of Section 2.1-5.1.

(2) Outpatient surgical facilities with four or more operating rooms, or facilities that do not use immediate use sterilization, shall meet the requirements of Section 2.1-5.1.

3.9-3.3.2.2 (2)(b) Where bays are used, an aisle with a minimum clearance of 6 feet (1.83 meters) independent of the foot clearance between patient stations or other fixed objects shall be provided.

3.11-1.3.1 Parking

This section is not adopted.

3.13-1.1.1 Unit Types

This section applies to mobile, transportable, and modular structures as defined below. These units can increase public access to needed services.

Mobile mammography units do not require review by the Department of Health, Construction Review Services.

Appendix Language:

A3.13-1.1.1 The facility providing services, including mobile mammography, should review these requirements in consideration of the service offering and the delivery of care model.

3.13-8.6.1 Fire Alarm System

Fire alarm notification shall be provided to the facility while the unit is on-site.

3.13-8.6.1.2 Each mobile unit shall provide fire alarm notification by one of the following methods:

(1) Via an auto-dialer connected to the unit's smoke detectors.

(2) An audible device located on the outside of the unit.

(3) Connection to the building fire alarm system.

7.2.3 (c)(2)

This section is not adopted.

7.4.4 Sterile Processing Room. Where a sterile processing room is provided, it shall meet the following requirements:

(a) The airflow design shall provide a "clean to dirty" airflow within the space with supply air provided over the clean area and exhaust provided from the soiled area.

(b) This room shall be positive to adjacent spaces with the exception of operating rooms or positively pressurized procedure rooms.

(c) A minimum of two outside air changes and six total air changes shall be provided.

(d) Two filter banks shall be required: The primary filter shall be MERV 7, the final filter shall be MERV 14.

(e) Room air shall be exhausted to the exterior.