Life Safety Code Information
portable oxygen tank storage
Storage of Full vs. Empty oxygen tanks
I wanted to share an email that indicates that Life Safety code surveys will be monitoring the storage of full vs. empty tanks. The tanks should be stored separately and indicated by signage. If you use portable gas cylinders and don't currently separate the full/empty tanks or have signage indicating full/empty areas please see below.
From: Valerie Heedum [mailto:vheedum@nwrespiratory.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 7, 2016 1:29 PM
To: Achor, Katharine N. (CMS/CQISCO)
Subject: Life safety code question
Hi Katharine,
I was wondering if you would help answer a question I have about oxygen storage.
I am the Account Manager at an oxygen supply company. We work primarily with nursing homes and I have been asked about properly storing full and empty portable e cylinder tanks.
Is it acceptable for the nursing home to keep the E cylinders in the same storage rack as long as they label a “full side” and an “empty side”?
Many of our customers don’t have a lot of extra storage to keep tanks in separate racks in their storage room/closets and I wanted to see if this was an acceptable storage solution for them.
Val Heedum
Account Manager- Nebraska and Western Iowa
Northwest Respiratory Services
Cell 402-440-4352
Customer Service 1-800-232-0706
On Jan 7, 2016, at 3:45 PM, Achor, Katharine N. (CMS/CQISCO) <Katharine.Achor@cms.hhs.gov> wrote:
Valerie,
It would be acceptable to have them in the same storage rack, but they need to be clearly labeled. The regulation follows:
If stored within the same enclosure, empty cylinders shall be segregated from full cylinders. Empty cylinders shall be marked to avoid confusion and delay if a full cylinder is needed hurriedly. 1999 NFPA 99, 4.3.5.2.2
Katharine
Katharine Achor | Health Quality Review/LSC Specialist | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | Midwest Consortium Division of Survey, Certification & Enforcement | 601 East 12th Street, Room 355, Kansas City, Mo 64106 | phone (816) 426-6480 | fax (443) 380-6052 | katharine.achor@cms.hhs.gov
Example of signage
Joint commission information
Northwest Respiratory Tank Tags
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Val Heedum Account Manager- Northwest Respiratory Services
Email: vheedum@nwrespiratory.com
Website: www.nwrespiratory.com
Phone: 402-440-4352