More about hospital generator sizing, testing and exercising.

Abstract

The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requirements for testing and exercising on-site standby generators are intended to prevent testing with insufficient load. However, engineers grapple with local and state enforcement agencies who require needlessly oversized standby generators, putting the engineer in the difficult position of using supplementary load banks because of insufficient building load for testing. This document examines the latest changes in NFPA codes and the JCAHO policy that aim to resolve testing issues.