Updated January 2024. During healthcare construction and renovation projects, fire safety issues typically arise from a lack of knowledge or understanding of NFPA 241, the standard that provides measures for preventing or minimizing fire damage to structures during construction, alteration or demolition.
What Are demountable walls?
Updated September 24, 2025 Demountable walls are modular barriers that can be quickly installed and removed to control dust, noise, and air movement during construction or renovation. They’re widely used in healthcare facilities, offices, and commercial spaces where safety and flexibility matter.
Who tests and certifies fire-rated barriers?
As a protective measure, almost every product or structure you come into contact with on a daily basis is regulated and certified for safety and code compliance.
What is the ICRA 2.0 Precautions Matrix?
An ICRA is a multidisciplinary, organizational documented process intended to reduce infection risks during all phases of facility planning, design, construction, renovation and facility maintenance. The ICRA 2.0 precautions matrix is the recently updated tool that is used by whoever is planning and implementing the construction. ASHE members and non-members can download a copy of… Read more »
Safety Organizations in California and Kansas Are First to Approve STARC Systems’ FireblockWall™
The California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) and the Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal accepts the first reusable one-hour fire-rated containment solution for occupied renovations
What is ICRA 2.0?
The use of infection control risk assessments (ICRAs) during healthcare construction projects has been a work in progress spanning several decades.
ICRA 2.0: Eliminating Guesswork for Safer Healthcare Renovations
By JANET HAAS, PhD, RN, CIC, Principal Consulting Epidemiologist, Innovative Infection Prevention Facility managers, infection preventionists and contractors have been using infection control risk assessments (ICRA) for preventing infections related to healthcare construction and renovations since the 1996 Facilities Guideline Institute’s (FGI) Guidelines for Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities recommended them. However, the application… Read more »
Healthcare Construction Recovery: Managing Past Uncertainty
Healthcare contractors, facilities managers and others tasked with keeping healthcare renovation projects on schedule and on budget have had their hands full. Yet despite the challenges wrought by inflation, supply chain issues and labor shortages, there are reasons to be hopeful and strategies you can use to thrive through the uncertain year ahead.
Who oversees ICRA guidelines for hospital construction?
Hospitals typically employ safety personnel to prioritize patient safety and to ensure that doctors, nurses and staff can do their jobs in a safe environment.
What is a Class A Fire Rating?
What Class A Fire Rating Means & Why It Matters The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifies a burn test (E84) to determine surface burning and smoke generation characteristics of materials used in interior construction. A Class A fire rating represents the highest rating achievable, indicating a flame spread of 0-25 and smoke… Read more »