Walk-Thru Questions

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roger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Fl
Occupation
Retired Electrician
Yuck!

What does the hospital do if the utility power blinks? The patients die?

cf

If it's more than a blink and then there is generator failure, they go to manually respirating the patients on life support as well as other manual life support measures.


Roger
 

walkerj

Senior Member
Location
Baton Rouge
What is the construction type?

Where is the service?

Is the corridor already packed to the brim with ductwork, cable tray, and pipe racks?

Do you get the whole floor at one time making shutdowns easy, or is it done in sections?

Is there a service elevator that is always accesible?

Where do I park and how many vehicles can parking accomodate?

Are the nurses hot? (if female):grin:
 

Mgraw

Senior Member
Location
Opelousas, Louisiana
Occupation
Electrician
Had a job at a hospital Friday. It took 3 people 9 hours each to move 10 3 foot ultraviolet fixtures from one operating room to another. The rooms had hepa filters, there was a tent in the hall around the doorways to each room. Everyone had to wear hooded suits and change suits every time they went from one room to another. The fixtures had to be cleaned by a contractor that specializes in that type of work after they were taken down, put in clean bags and moved to the room they were being installed. Then installed. Today I worked in the same hospital replacing 6 troffer lights. It took 4 1/2 hours. All the old fixtures had to be put in plastic bags by the same contractor so I could get them out the hospital. The point is if you are going to do work in a hospital you need to know what are the hospitals requirments. I think every job I have done in hospitals take twice as long as they would say in an office building.
 

Cold Fusion

Senior Member
Location
way north
If it's more than a blink and then there is generator failure, they go to manually respirating the patients on life support as well as other manual life support measures.


Roger
I'm sure you are right - that's the scary part. Life support systems and no designed redundancy for essential maintenance. What happens if a CB trip unit fails and needs to be replaced? Manual life support?

If I make a major screw up about the worst I could do is burn up $200 million in equipment.

We only make money if the equipment runs. But we can schedule a shutdown - it might take 3 months but we can schedule it. These guys can't even do that.

It still sounds like "yuck" to me.

cf
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Thanks George. Parking should not affect the job. The workers have to be there ontime regardless of parking. Is that correct?

For workers driving their own vehicles to work yes. For someone bringing company vehicles with tools or supplies where you may need to access this vehicle throughout the work shift you will want to know what you are allowed to do with it and how much of your time it may involve. Being able to bring a truck or trailer full of supplies close to where they are needed at least for long enough period of time to unload them can save a lot of man hours. Same goes for removal of items after done with them.
 

Alwayslearningelec

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Occupation
Estimator
I've worked a little bit in a hospital. Some of the items I have seen that would impact time, most of them mentioned above:

1. Getting badges. This usually entails the foreman going to the office, arranging a time, then returning to the job, then returning with the employee needing the badge, getting turned away 'cause Francine called in sick today...

2. Parking. There was a rule from the GC that only marked company vehicles could be parked onsite. All the trades wound up parking up and down the street, between one and two blocks away.

3. Conduit running between an existing panel to a new panel through an operating room. Nothing like electricians dressing up like doctors on a Sunday in between operations, knowing they have been "promised" five hours of downtime. If an emergency came along, you are expected to vacate immediately.

4. Critical loads. Can you shut that panel off while you're making your changes? Does the work have to be completed live? I've heard "bomb squad-esque" tales of electricians wedging under service gear making changeovers hot, with an EMT hovering nearby because the hospital can't have a shutdown.

It's hard to say what you should ask about without any details.

For workers driving their own vehicles to work yes. For someone bringing company vehicles with tools or supplies where you may need to access this vehicle throughout the work shift you will want to know what you are allowed to do with it and how much of your time it may involve. Being able to bring a truck or trailer full of supplies close to where they are needed at least for long enough period of time to unload them can save a lot of man hours. Same goes for removal of items after done with them.


Very true.
 

MichaelGP3

Senior Member
Location
San Francisco bay area
Occupation
Fire Alarm Technician
Determine ahead of time if you will need to be opening a neutral on a MWBC; insuring ALL relevant circuit breakers are off during this procedure is the best practice (and this is an understatement). You may need to rely on their in-house electrician or engineering staff for help with this.
 

Alwayslearningelec

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Occupation
Estimator
What is the construction type?

Where is the service?

Is the corridor already packed to the brim with ductwork, cable tray, and pipe racks?

Do you get the whole floor at one time making shutdowns easy, or is it done in sections?

Is there a service elevator that is always accesible?

Where do I park and how many vehicles can parking accomodate?

Are the nurses hot? (if female):grin:

Thanks. and I hope for hot nurses
 

WorkSafe

Senior Member
Location
Moore, OK
I'm sure you are right - that's the scary part. Life support systems and no designed redundancy for essential maintenance. What happens if a CB trip unit fails and needs to be replaced? Manual life support?

These ventilator/blood machines almost always have battery backup for this purpose, and for when the patients are being transferred between locations. FYI
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
I'm sure you are right - that's the scary part. Life support systems and no designed redundancy for essential maintenance. What happens if a CB trip unit fails and needs to be replaced? Manual life support?

If I make a major screw up about the worst I could do is burn up $200 million in equipment.

We only make money if the equipment runs. But we can schedule a shutdown - it might take 3 months but we can schedule it. These guys can't even do that.

It still sounds like "yuck" to me.

cf

I have done plenty of hospital shut downs, the only thing that stays up is the critical care equipment, which is usually not much. The biggest obstacle is always the surgical schedule, I have waited hours for a surgery to finish that ran longer than expected. Then when you do get to shut down, the window is pretty tight, usually not longer than 8 hours.
 
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