In order to minimize the risk of electrical fires in hospitals, even new equipment needs to be examined for faults. A highly efficient way to do this is with infrared thermography, says Adria Corbett, a Machinery Risk Specialist for Chubb.
“The risk of a fire in any occupancy is a serious one but even more so for the healthcare industry because they’re providing care for people who are more vulnerable in a fire emergency situation and also they have very critical electrical systems for the care of these patients,” she said.
A major causes of fire is defects in their critical electrical systems, but the problem faced by hospitals is that these systems cannot always be switched off to run electrical safety checks.
“This is where infrared steps in,” she said.
“It allows you to take a look at the electrical systems while they’re running, it’s a non-destructive examination tool that provides immediate and accurate results.”
While infrared thermography is used annually in order to comply with national fire safety standards, it is worth making extra checks to eliminate all potential problems.
“This scan is something you want to do more frequently until you get to the point where you’re not finding any hotspots and they’re not as severe,” said Corbett. “You would start annually, do it more frequently if needed, and if you have a system whose reliability is critical to your operation then you would do it more often.”
fire hazards, Infrared thermography, healthcare industry, electrical risks, healthcare risk management
