44:70:02:17Occupant protection.

Each facility must be constructed, arranged, equipped, maintained, and operated to avoid injury or danger to any occupant. The extent and complexity of occupant protection precautions are determined by the services offered and the physical needs of any resident admitted to the facility. The facility shall: (1) Develop and implement a written and scheduled preventive maintenance program; (2) Provide securely constructed and conveniently located grab bars in all toilet rooms and bathing areas used by residents; (3) Provide an emergency staff call system for resident use to summon assistance from staff. The system must be capable of being easily activated by a resident and must register both visually and audibly at the staff station. The system must be utilized and maintained in a manner to ensure it is a consistent and effective means for a resident to alert staff of the need for assistance. The call system must also: (a) Utilize fixed call stations convenient for resident use and activated by a pull cord or other department-approved device. The fixed call stations must be located at each bed, toilet, and bathing facility used by a resident; (b) Be a wireless system with a device carried by a resident; or (c) Have been submitted for review and approved by the department; A call station or device is not required in the resident room of a cognitively impaired resident if a nursing assessment determines the resident would not benefit from the availability; (4) Provide grounded or double-insulated electrical equipment or protect the equipment with ground fault circuit interrupters. Ground fault circuit interrupters must be provided in wet areas and for outlets within six feet of sinks; (5) Install an electrically activated audible alarm, if required by other sections of this article, on any unattended exit door. Any other exterior door must be locked or alarmed. The alarm must be audible at a designated staff station and may not automatically silence if the door is closed; (6) Prohibit the use of a portable space heater, portable halogen lamp, household-type electric blanket, or household-type heating pad in a facility; (7) Ensure that any light fixture located over a resident bed, over a bathing fixture or treatment area, in a clean supply storage area, or in any medication set-up area be equipped with a lens cover or a shatterproof bulb; (8) Ensure that any clothes dryer must have a galvanized metal transition duct for exhaust or flexible transition duct listed and labeled in accordance with UL 2158A; and (9) Ensure that the storage and transfilling of oxygen cylinders or containers meet the requirements of the NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities, 2012 Edition, chapter 11. A resident may store in the resident's room a maximum of three E-cylinders or seventy-two cubic feet, or 2.040 cubic meters of oxygen on an as-needed basis, in addition to oxygen in use by the resident. If a facility admits or retains a resident not capable of self-preservation, the facility must meet NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, 2012 edition, health care occupancy standards in chapter 18 or 19, or equip the facility with complete automatic sprinkler protection.

Source: 38 SDR 115, effective January 9, 2012; 46 SDR 65, effective November 26, 2019; 50 SDR 19, effective August 30, 2023.