A topic of interest for safety officers, facility managers and infection preventionists is water safety in healthcare. There are routine aspects of water safety that are addressed in each facility’s required water management plan. The CDC has a Healthcare Facility Water Management Program Checklist that goes over the basics. However, there are unique opportunities during construction or renovation to reduce the risk of waterborne pathogens and mold with careful design and commissioning considerations. The CDC offers a Water Infection Control Risk Assessment tool (WICRA) that can be used to assess risk based on water sources, design considerations, and patient populations served in the area. This tool can be used at any time, but may be especially helpful when planning construction or ren…
Infection Control and Construction
Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) guidelines are used to prevent environment-associated infections in healthcare facilities during any construction or renovation project within patient-occupied spaces. Temporary containment systems that include negative air capability provide airtight barriers that align with ICRA 2.0 guidelines on prevention planning for construction projects.
STARC is helping to elevate these standards for infection control professionals and contractors with our line of fully ICRA compliant temporary containment systems, which are designed to be safe, easy to install, reusable and highly durable. STARC’s RealWall™, LiteBarrier™ and FireblockWall™ solutions provide airtight containment barriers that include negative air capability. These systems meet ICRA Class IV requirements, as well as the Class V recommendation that was introduced as part of the recent ICRA 2.0 update.
Negative room pressure, or negative air, is achieved when the pressure in a given space is lower than the pressure in surrounding areas. Negative air is used to prevent cross-contamination from a potentially hazardous environment into a non-contaminated environment.
An anteroom is a small room that leads into a larger room. It’s considered an essential tool for hospital renovations because it leverages negative air to support maintenance and infection control efforts, enabling facilities to conduct renovations without having to shut down areas of the hospital.
With STARC, you can create any size anteroom required. The panels come in a variety of widths, providing unmatched flexibility to customize. And because our modular walls, doors, ceilings, and accessories are reusable, you can quickly and quietly install an anteroom wherever it’s needed, time after time.
How Does Negative Airflow Enhance Safety?
*Updated March 2023 Designing temporary containment for construction and renovation projects takes many factors into consideration, but safety is paramount. Particularly for use in healthcare settings, where concerns about keeping patients, caregivers and staff protected from construction dust and potentially dangerous pathogens are always top of mind.
Test Your Understanding of ICRA 2.0
By JANET HAAS, PhD, RN, CIC, Principal Consulting Epidemiologist, Innovative Infection Prevention The latest version of the infection control risk assessment has been called ICRA 2.0 to distinguish it from the original version that facility managers and infection preventionists have been using for several years. As mentioned in my previous blog post on this topic, ICRA 2.0 builds on many years of experience using the original ICRA and clarifies many areas that were not specifically addressed. In this post, we’ll apply ICRA 2.0 to some scenarios of construction and maintenance activities that are typical for healthcare facilities.
ICRA 2.0: Matrix for Safer Healthcare Renovations
By JANET HAAS, PhD, RN, CIC, Principal Consulting Epidemiologist, Innovative Infection Prevention
Infection Control Precautions During Occupied Healthcare Renovations
Ensuring adherence to infection control precautions and prevention measures during an occupied healthcare renovation project is notoriously challenging – and critical. To help, we collected actionable advice for ICRA compliance and construction containment from industry experts. For more safety during occupied renovation expert advice, check out our recent blog post and watch our recent panel discussion.
Challenges of Infection Prevention and Control During Construction
Updated August 2021 IPs, FMs, or healthcare contractors may have heard of the Safety Risk Assessment or SRA, and most start to think about the Infection Control Risk Assessment or ICRA only in the days before construction begins. Both should be integral parts of the design and planning phases of construction and renovation projects. Discover the latest developments in healthcare construction safety from our infection prevention advisor, Janet Haas: SRA and ICRA: New Developments in Healthcare Construction Safety During renovations or remodeling, construction barriers in hospitals play a vital role in infection control. As a preventive measure, the barriers are part of infection control practices that are crucial to reducing the transmission of hospital-acquired infections (HAI).
Learn What ICRA in Construction for Healthcare Really Means for You
Proper containment is essential to Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) and maintaining a safe construction site while working within a healthcare facility. Every crew member must go into the project with a solid understanding of ICRA to establish and maintain appropriate containment.
Infographic
5 Essential Containment Questions For Healthcare Project Pre-Planning
Whitepaper
Environmental Considerations For An ICRA Protocol: White Paper
Resource Hub
Quickly Create Infection Isolation In Your Existing Space
RealWall™
If your project requires reusable modular walls that deliver the look and feel of a traditional wall while significantly reducing renovation noise, RealWall™ is the best solution available. A go-to favorite among contractors for healthcare, airports, data centers, bio/life sciences, office space and education, RealWall is the …
LiteBarrier™
Considered the most durable modular wall system in its category, LiteBarrier features a slim aluminum frame and fiberglass-reinforced polymer partitions – ideal for projects requiring a quick turnaround. When the project calls for a temporary partition wall with door, LiteBarrier is your best option for an easy-to-use, modular…