The Joint Commission

Effective management of life safety requires a comprehensive program that includes procedures for the ongoing inspection of common life safety elements (similarly to what was prescribed under the original Joint Commission Building Maintenance Program), management of the Plan for Improvement of the Statement of Conditions (SOC), and a hospital's existing maintenance management process.

Life Safety Inspection
ATG's comprehensive life safety management solution not only addresses Joint Commission life safety requirements, but it will also allow healthcare organizations to maximize the usage of their own resources while dealing with this critical subject.

The unique feature of ATG's comprehensive solution is its ability to allow the inspection process and the SOC's Plan for Improvement (PFI) management to work seamlessly with most existing work order or computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), including TMS™ and Maximo™.

With ATG's solution, a facility can minimize their efforts related to the preparation and management of PFI information since the majority of recurring issues such as improper latches, unsealed penetrations, burnt-out exit signs, etc. are detected as part of the life safety inspection, and if addressable within a 45-day period, are excluded from the SOC. This will significantly reduce costs associated with the preparation and management of PFI data, including efforts related to uploading the information onto the Joint Commission site.

ATG's solution allows a seamless process for the inspection and testing of the recurring life safety issues, with all the required reporting, including inspection, history, and trending reports built into the solution. Utilizing a highly intuitive, web-based component of the solution, the facility can then generate a variety of SOC and in-house inspection reports, including a report identifying the failed life safety elements, which is then submitted to the facility maintenance department.

ATG's comprehensive life safety management solution automatically creates PFIs for elements that are not addressable within the 45-day period, thus satisfying Joint Commission Life Safety requirements.

The Statement of Conditions
Creation of a new Life Safety Chapter in 2009 is indicative of the degree of importance given by The Joint Commission to the effective management of patient safety programs. Those organizations that have successfully implemented the Statement of Conditions (SOC) have been able to formulate an effective strategy for not only the survey of the life safety elements, but also one related to the ongoing update of the Plan for Improvement for their campus.

An objective life safety assessment requires code consulting expertise and post-survey implementation know-how to allow a meaningful Plan for Improvement (PFI) strategy.

Following a life safety assessment conducted by ATG and its code-consulting partners, all data is integrated into the CAD-based life safety files of the facility using SOC-related methodology specifically developed by ATG. ATG's SOC solution has transformed PFI information from static reports to "living" documents.

With the comprehensive life safety management solution developed by ATG, the facility can significantly improve the efficiency of efforts related to the preparation and management of the Plan for Improvement information since the majority of recurring issues, such as improper latches, unsealed penetrations, burnt-out exit signs, etc. are detected as part of the life safety inspection process, and if addressable within a 45-day period, are excluded from the SOC. This will significantly reduce costs associated with the preparation and management of PFI data, including efforts related to uploading the information onto the Joint Commission site.

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