Articles

Chapter 3 of the Guidelines for vulnerability reduction in the design of new health care facilities provides the information needed to define hazards. The main reason for the collapse of health infrastructure and the resulting fatalities is that hospitals are built without taking account of natural hazards. Also, systems deteriorate over time if not properly maintained.

After the proper site is selected, the next important step is to develop an infrastructure design that provides a level of safety consistent with the protection goal set for the facility. The protection systems being considered should be realistic and lend themselves to effective maintenance.

"Elements that are not a part of the system that supports the building are considered nonstructural elements”

Non-structural design looks at essential systems such as (but not limited to) electrical, hydraulic, sanitation, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; furniture and fixed or movable office equipment, as well as medical and laboratory equipment; supplies used for diagnosis and treatment; and some architectural elements of the building. Consult parts 2 and 3 of the Safe Hospitals Checklist for what to look for in the way structural and nonstructural elements.

Hospital design considerations include specifications to improve their performance during and in the immediate aftermath of seismic, flooding, and high-wind events.

The most common medical-architectural schemes used in the design of hospitals do not cover functional issues that arise in disasters, such as an increase in the number of hospitalized patients, the special care required by patients dependent on life support systems, and the setting up or restriction of spaces for handling the emergency or to conserve resources.