517.18(A) General Care Areas. Patient Bed Locations.

Notice that the Life Safety and Critical Branches are no longer also considered the "Emergency System". Notice the overcurrent device just under the transfer switch serving the critical branch. If the feeder overcurrent device ahead of it at the service was required to have ground-fault protection in accordance with 215.10, could the overcurrent device just under the transfer switch serve as the required second level ground fault protection? Hint: 517.17.
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Notice that the Life Safety and Critical Branches are no longer also considered the "Emergency System". Notice the overcurrent device just under the transfer switch serving the critical branch. If the feeder overcurrent device ahead of it at the service was required to have ground-fault protection in accordance with 215.10, could the overcurrent device just under the transfer switch serve as the required second level ground fault protection? Hint: 517.17.

Code Change Summary: Code language was added to address proper identification of receptacles in patient bed locations and the phrase “emergency system” has been replaced with “critical branch”.

The NEC® is one of many references used when designing a health care facility. Many of the requirements for health care facilities in Article 517 of the NEC® come directly from NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Code. A movement has been occurring to bring the NEC® more in line with the most current version of the NFPA 99. This means when differences in wording between the NEC® and NFPA 99 are found, the NEC® wording gets revised to match during a code change cycle.

In the 2014 NEC®, the phrase “emergency system” has been deleted from section 517.18(A) and replaced with “critical branch”. This change was made in order to recognize that the emergency system is only for those systems required to help occupants safely exit the building during an emergency.

Also, a new rule now requires specific identification of receptacles in the patient bed location for those supplied from the critical branch. The new rule states that the electrical receptacles or the cover plate for the electrical receptacles supplied from the critical branch shall have a distinctive color or marking so as to be readily identifiable and shall also indicate the panelboard and branch-circuit number supplying them.

Knowing which receptacles are connected to the critical branch in a health care facility and knowing where they are supplied from is important when a service electrician is about to turn off a circuit breaker that could be supplying a patient’s life support system.

Below is a preview of the NEC®.  See the actual NEC® text at NFPA.ORG for the complete code section. Once there, click on the “free access” tab and select the applicable year of NFPA 70 (National Electrical code).

2011 Code Language:

517.18(A) Patient Bed Location. Each patient bed location shall be supplied by at least two branch circuits, one from the emergency system and one from the normal system. All branch circuits from the normal system shall originate in the same panelboard.

The branch circuit serving patient bed locations shall not be part of a multi-wire branch circuit.

2014 Code Language:

517.18(A) Patient Bed Location. Each patient bed location shall be supplied by at least two branch circuits, one from the critical branch and one from the normal system. All branch circuits from the normal system shall originate in the same panelboard. The electrical receptacles or the cover plate for the electrical receptacles supplied from the critical branch shall have a distinctive color or marking so as to be readily identifiable and shall also indicate the panelboard and branch-circuit number supplying them.

Branch circuits serving patient bed locations shall not be part of a multiwire branch circuit.

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517.18(A) General Care Areas. Patient Bed Locations.

Below is a Real Question from our Electrical Continuing Education Courses for Electrical License Renewal:

Which of the following is required for branch circuits serving a patient bed location in the general care area of a hospital?

A: At least two circuits are needed. One from the critical branch and one from the normal system.
B: At least two circuits are needed. One from the emergency system and one from the normal system.
C: At least two receptacles are needed. One from the emergency system and one from the normal system.
D: Branch circuits serving patient bed locations can be supplied from a multiwire branch circuit.
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