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Assisted Living Facilties Mandated Sprinkler Coverage

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mandates Fire Sprinkler Coverage

All Long-Term Care Facilities Serving CMS Beneficiaries Must Have Fire Sprinkler Systems in Place by 2013

The following is from the Blazemaster website:

Today, only about one in five nursing homes have full fire sprinkler

coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Services (CMS). To address this gap in fire safety, CMS created a

regulation that mandates comprehensive fire sprinkler coverage for

all long term care facilities serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries
by 2013. It is estimated that the new regulation affects 3,500 existing
facilities.


BlazeMaster fire sprinkler systems are

ideal for this type of retrofit construction.

The CPVC system is cost-effective and

features a fast, easy, clean installation

– minimizing disruption to occupants. In

fact, retrofitting with BlazeMaster pipe

and fittings can help building owners

save up to 40 percent in total installed

costs when compared to metallic systems.


According to the CMS website (www.cms.hhs.gov), approximately

three million elderly and disabled Americans reside in the nation’s

16,000 nursing homes. Although fatal fires in nursing homes are

rare, in a July 2004 report, the Government Accountability Office

estimated that automatic sprinkler systems can decrease the

chance of fire-related deaths by 82 percent.


Previous CMS regulations required sprinkler systems in all newly

constructed and rehabilitated facilities. However, the federal

government did not require existing nursing homes to have such

systems and some older facilities were exempt

from this requirement. This new CMS mandate

holds all 16,000 nursing homes in the country to

the same standard.


All new fire sprinkler systems retrofitted as

a result of this rule will be required to meet

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

fire safety guidelines. The NFPA specifies that

all resident rooms; kitchen, dining and activity

areas; corridors; attics; canopies; overhangs;

offices; waiting areas; closets; storage areas for trash and linen;

and maintenance areas have full fire sprinkler coverage.

For more information, please visit www.blazemaster.com/nursinghome.