portable oxygen equipment for guests staying in hotel

[bbriggs]

Hello,

I have had a set to with BOC concerning delivery and installation of a portable oxygen device for a guest. The NHS oragnised the delvery and installation of the kit and BOC rang to arrange installation on the morning of arrival. My problem was BOC didnt remove the kit so closing the room off for two days.
My worry though was when approached with details , firstly boc then nhs local then guest's nhs they all threw the responsibilty of the kit to each other. ASfter a month of 'tennis' the Departement of Health agrred that BOC is responsible for the kit including safety and installation.

So my questions are:

Has there been any instances of fire cueased by these portable untis especially when installed in some form of holiday accommodation?

What should we as providers expect to have to do to ensure the kit is safe?


Short of refusing all guests needing this equipment which may contravene the Disabled Discrimination Act how can we be sure we can allow the kit to be in place and where do we stand if there is a fire caused by it?

Hope you can help

Regards,

bob

[kurnal]

This equipment is in common use in peoples homes, sheltered housing, hospitals and care homes. The supplier has a duty to pass on to the user guidance on its safe use, we could give some general advice here, cannot give specific advice as we dont have any knowledge of what you have. However initially to save reinventing the wheel here is a link to an american  general advice website- google will reveal many more.

http://www.cchs.net/health/health-info/docs/2400/2412.asp?index=8707

Are you sure there were no detailed instructions and safety data sheet supplied with the equipment?

That would be a major breach of procedure and should be reported to the H&S manager of the company that supplied it.

[AnthonyB]

Dealing with BOC Medical in one of my other roles what information you get depends on what is being set up. With cylinder rental alone you normally have to ask for all the various data sheets & guides (which incidentally are very good and they readily provide the info on request). Where a complete set of equipment, such as the BOC Lifeline which is a complete package of cylinder, carrying bag and all the associated delivery equipment, is provided it normally comes with full documentation & user guides, signage, etc and the delivery drivers for this service are trained in giving basic on site induction into the equipment to customers.

The cylinders that would normally be supplied for the usage hinted at would be domicilliary cylinders where the regulator only has a 2 litre per minute and a 4 litre per minute setting (normal ones can kick out up to 15lpm or a 25lpm purge) with the regulator head being part of the cylinder (rather than the old method of a separate cylinder & regulator with the risk of high flow high pressure leakage).

In use normally a concentration of 24%-28% Oxygen would be being delivered to the patient at 2 or 4lpm over a period of time, usually several hours, the person being a sufferer of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

All BOC's safety documentation is also freely available from the BOC Medical website. Normally as a supplier their responsibility ends at the point of delivery and handover, the use being responsible for ongoing safe use.