Section 388-97-2320. Utility service rooms on resident care units.

(1) All nursing homes must:

(a) Provide utility rooms designed, equipped, and maintained to ensure separation of clean and sterile supplies and equipment from those that are contaminated;

(b) Ensure that each clean utility room has:

(i) A work counter;

(ii) A sink equipped with single use hand drying towels and soap for handwashing; and

(iii) Closed storage units for supplies and small equipment; and

(c) Ensure that each soiled utility room has:

(i) A work counter and a sink large enough to totally submerge the items being cleaned and disinfected;

(ii) Storage for cleaning supplies and other items, including equipment, to meet nursing home needs;

(iii) Locked storage for cleaning agents, disinfectants and other caustic or toxic agents;

(iv) Adequate space for waste containers, linen hampers, and other large equipment; and

(v) Adequate ventilation to remove odors and moisture.

(2) In new construction:

(a) A resident room must not be more than ninety feet from a clean utility room and a soiled utility room;

(b) The clean utility room and the soiled utility room must be separate rooms;

(c) Each soiled utility room must contain:

(i) A double-compartment sink with inside dimensions of each compartment deep enough to totally submerge items being cleaned and disinfected;

(ii) Sufficient, available work surface on each side of the sink to adequately process and dry equipment with a minimum of three feet of work surface on the clean side;

(iii) Drying/draining racks for wet equipment;

(iv) Work counters, sinks, and other fixed equipment arranged to prevent intermingling of clean and contaminated items during the cleaning process; and

(v) A siphon jet type clinic service sink or equivalent installed on the soiled side of the utility room away from the door.

(d) The nursing home's space for waste containers, linen hampers, and other large equipment must not block work areas; and

(e) The utility rooms must meet the ventilation requirements of Table 6 in WAC 388-97-4040.

[Statutory Authority: Chapters 18.51 and 74.42 RCW and 42 C.F.R. 489.52. WSR 08-20-062, § 388-97-2320, filed 9/24/08, effective 11/1/08.]

Chapters 18.51 and 74.42 RCW and 42 C.F.R. 489.52. WSR 08-20-062, § 388-97-2320, filed 9/24/08, effective 11/1/08.

Rules

388-97-4040,