A message from the new HFMSNJ Advocacy Chair
Tricia L. Romano, P.E. was recently named Advocacy Chair and ASHE Liaison for the Hospital Facilities Management Society of New Jersey. Below is her incoming message to all HFMSNJ Members:
As your new Advocacy Chair, I am looking forward to the upcoming years in providing support to the organization. Robert N. Roop, P.E. has done a fantastic job in this position for many, many years and I am hoping to continue that same level of advocacy support. I will continue to attend the quarterly ASHE Advocacy Liaison webinars and distribute the updates from those meetings to the members.
I attended the ASHE Advocacy Liaison Meeting in Denver in September 2019. The meeting was a full day and a half with approximately 30 Liaison attendees from across the country, a majority of who were hospital facility engineers. It was a very productive and interactive meeting with the goal to determine what the biggest advocacy concerns for hospitals are. ASHE is really looking to improve their Advocacy support for its members.
One of the most important aspects for the Advocacy Liaison is keeping an eye out for proposed changes to the various codes that hospitals must abide by. We reviewed a list of 90 codes and prioritized the most important ones by polling the attendees and determined that we should have dedicated liaisons keeping a watch on any proposed changes or public comments to them. We want to make sure we are aware of what is going on so we can assist in the process of any code changes to positively benefit the hospitals. The top 5 most important codes were determined to be NFPA 101, NFPA 70, NFPA 99, ASHRAE 170, and NFPA 110. However, we ended up assigning liaisons to watch codes for approximately 40 of the highest importance for hospitals.
One item that will be very important to keep an eye on is NFPA 70 NEC 2020 code with regards to its definition of “reconditioned, refurbished or remanufactured equipment” and the requirement that reconditioned equipment is to be marked with a descriptive marking by which the organization responsible for reconditioning the electrical equipment could be identified along with the date of the reconditioning. The original UL labeling is to be removed from reconditioned equipment. The code also specifically identifies various equipment that are not permitted to be reconditioned. ASHE is currently appealing this for healthcare.
If you are an ASHE member, make sure you sign up for myASHE to stay connected to other hospital engineers and facility directors throughout the country that are facing some of the same challenges and questions that you may be. It is a beneficial resource for you.
A reminder that the NFPA Conference is planned for June 15-18, 2020 with the Technical Meeting planned for June 18th. This year’s conference will be held in Orlando, Florida. Those that are NFPA members are encouraged to attend as your vote really matters. More information can be found at https://www.nfpa.org/conference/index.html.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tricia L. Romano, P.E., LEED A.P.
Chairman, Advocacy Committee and ASHE Advocacy Liaison
