Medical Safety division

Electrical safety for the patient and staff in healthcare premises

In hospitals patient care is of paramount importance. So it’s the medical staff’s task to ensure that patients are treated effectively and receive the highest level of care. But even a short power failure may expose patients to hazards or impair successful therapy or diagnosis. The IEC 60364-7-710:2002 is an internationally applied standard specifying the requirements for the electrical installations for medically used rooms.

In hospitals and in medical locations outside hospitals, e.g. medical practices, the number of mainssupplied medical electrical equipment is steadily increasing. Therefore, not only is great importance attached to safe and secure power supply of equipment intended to be used for diagnosis and therapy but in particular to safe power supply of mains-supplied equipment intended to be used for life-saving and life-supporting measures which affect the health and safety of patients in case of failure or by current passing through the human body. The ensuing increased requirements for safe and secure power supply apply to all the electrical equipment used in hospitals and in particular for rooms like operating theatres, heart catheterisation rooms. High reliability and safety of electrical installations in

this area means:

• ensuring high availability of electrical power supply

• selecting the appropriate protective measures against electric shock, particularly against

electric shock under fault conditions

• creating a high level of electrical safety for equipment are overruled by unexpected loss of electrical power. In intensive care units TIME is of the essence and the absolute reliability of electrical systems is of VITAL importance.