Medical gas cylinders contain components and chemicals that can cause serious harm if stored incorrectly to you, your property, your patients and staff. Due to the risks that can come with improperly storing your medical gas cylinders The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has mandated requirements for storing gas cylinders. The Joint Commission requires compliance with the NFPA requirements under Environment of Care standards EC.02.06.01, EP 1 and EC.02.03.01, EP 1. Here are the most recent clarifications to these requirements. MIJA Inc’s Critical Alert technology for medical oxygen devices will provide additional visual information to improve the management of oxygen cylinders and meet the guidelines described below by The Joint Commision.

• Set apart cylinders: Properly organizing and clearly labeling medical gas cylinders will eliminate mistakes when staff members are in a hurry. The Joint Commission requires this so full, partial and empty cylinders are easy to identify and will eliminate any room for mistake that could results in serious harm to your patients.
• Empty cylinders vs Full cylinders: The difference between an empty cylinder and a full cylinder is whether or not it has been open. Once the cylinder valve has been open it is considered empty; no matter the amount of contents it has remaining. For storage purposes, any empty (opened) cylinders must be physically separated from full (unopened) cylinders.
• Minimize fire risk: Limiting the number of medical gas cylinders in a storage area will minimize a potential fire risk. A full (unopened) cylinder with a malfunctioning valve can create an oxygen enriched environment therefore the NFPA 99-2005 Section 9.4.3 (see also CMS S&C-07-10) limits the number to 300 cubic feet (12 cylinders) of nonflammable medical gas.

The MIJA Critical Alert technology has been researched and developed to help accurately measure the contents in a medical oxygen cylinder to reduce the stress and anxiety for patients and caregivers. This electronic gas monitoring devices clearly displays an empty/full status and sounds off an audible alarm when pressure has gotten below a safe level. Contact the sales team at MIJA at sales@mija.com for more information about Critical Alert!