Funeral Home

Status
Not open for further replies.

Rock86

Senior Member
Location
new york
Occupation
Electrical Engineer / Electrician
I know you are all dying to answer this question.... (comical drum roll)

Anyone know of any odd ball codes for a funeral home's morgue? Looking at building codes and NEC, I don't see anything that makes a morgue special, but I thought I would ask incase someone has experience.

Thanks all.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Nothing specific to this sort of place (like a section in chapter 5 or 6.)

Could encounter specific locations that have specific rules though.

GFCI requirements would be to protect the living not the dead.
 

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
The SDS gives it a "4" on the NFPA flammability part of the hazard diamond and cautions "Burns readily. Rapidly or completely vaporizes at atmospheric pressure and normal ambient temperature. [emphasis added]"

That one shows a flash point of 140°F, so it does not completely vaporize at normal ambient temperatures...it can't even give off enough flammable vapors at normal ambient temperatures to support combustion.
 

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
That one shows a flash point of 140°F, so it does not completely vaporize at normal ambient temperatures...it can't even give off enough flammable vapors at normal ambient temperatures to support combustion.
The flash point is relevant for exposure to hot surfaces. It will completely volatilize at room temperature, with a explosive range of 7-73% in air, almost the same range as hydrogen (4-75%). The question is what strength is usually stored at the funeral home.
 

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
The flash point is relevant for exposure to hot surfaces. It will completely volatilize at room temperature, with a explosive range of 7-73% in air, almost the same range as hydrogen (4-75%). The question is what strength is usually stored at the funeral home.
The flash point is relevant no matter what the temperature source is because if the liquid is below that temperature it cannot give off vapors fast enough to support combustion . I guess if there is no ventilation, you might reach the LEL,

The STEL is 2ppm so I would never expect the 7000 ppm required to reach the LEL.

OSHA says the IDLH concentration is 100 ppm., and NISOH says it is 20 ppm. They also say the LC50 is less than 1000 ppm, so unlikely the vapor concentration would be anywhere near the LEL in a funeral home.

I don't see it being a classified area.
 

WA_Sparky

Electrical Engineer
Location
Vancouver, WA, Clark
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Just did a morgue. A couple interesting things I ran into that you may want to consider looking into.

  • Receptacles/data outlets in autopsy room needed to be medical grade and ready for spray down.
  • We had a negative pressured isolation and autopsy room just in case the body/s contained something harmful.
  • Autopsy lights had to be medical grade ready for spray down.
  • Our facility needed to be equipped with emergency disaster relief refrigeration truck point of connections on the exterior (In the event of a natural disaster, or mass casualty event that may overwhelm cooler/freezer capacity).
  • Not sure if it was an actual requirement but definitely a good idea. Include backup generator/ATS to ensure refrigerated/frozen bodies remain cold if power is lost.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Just did a morgue. A couple interesting things I ran into that you may want to consider looking into.

  • Receptacles/data outlets in autopsy room needed to be medical grade and ready for spray down.
  • We had a negative pressured isolation and autopsy room just in case the body/s contained something harmful.
  • Autopsy lights had to be medical grade ready for spray down.
  • Our facility needed to be equipped with emergency disaster relief refrigeration truck point of connections on the exterior (In the event of a natural disaster, or mass casualty event that may overwhelm cooler/freezer capacity).
  • Not sure if it was an actual requirement but definitely a good idea. Include backup generator/ATS to ensure refrigerated/frozen bodies remain cold if power is lost.
Local requirements, or some other code? Particularly on the medical grade items?

I can't think of where NEC would require it, presuming no live patients are ever intended to be involved.
 

roger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Fl
Occupation
Retired Electrician
The morgues I have worked in (some in large hospitals) didn't require any hospital type wiring and were actually pretty much utilitarian in all aspects down to wooden handle fillet knifes, small circular saws, drills, etc.......

Roger
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
The morgues I have worked in (some in large hospitals) didn't require any hospital type wiring and were actually pretty much utilitarian in all aspects down to wooden handle fillet knifes, small circular saws, drills, etc.......

Roger
Sterilization isn't all that important once you are dead.

Electrocution isn't really a risk either.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top