Fire Safety and Life Safety Flashcards
7 cards from real CHSP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Fire Safety and Life Safety flashcards as text
When conducting a fire risk assessment in an operating room, which unique hazard must receive special consideration?
Answer: Surgical drapes and oxygen-enriched environments
Operating rooms pose a high risk for surgical fires due to the combination of flammable drapes, ignition sources like electrosurgical units, and oxygen-enriched atmospheres.
Under NFPA 99, Category 1 piped medical gas systems in healthcare facilities must have source equipment located:
Answer: In a dedicated, exterior-vented room with signage
NFPA 99 requires Category 1 medical gas source equipment to be in dedicated rooms with exterior ventilation and proper signage to prevent oxygen-enriched atmosphere hazards.
A healthcare facility's sprinkler system inspection reveals a sprinkler head has been painted over. The correct response is to:
Answer: Replace the painted sprinkler head immediately with a listed replacement
Painted sprinkler heads must be replaced—never cleaned—because paint can impair heat-sensing elements and alter spray patterns, compromising fire suppression.
Which document serves as the primary reference for healthcare facility fire protection design and construction requirements at the federal level for CMS-certified facilities?
Answer: NFPA 101 as adopted by CMS
CMS adopts NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code) as the mandatory standard for fire protection in Medicare and Medicaid-certified healthcare facilities.
A healthcare safety officer is evaluating an egress route. The exit access corridor has a dead-end measuring 40 feet. For a sprinklered healthcare occupancy, this is:
Answer: Acceptable; maximum dead-end is 50 feet in sprinklered facilities
NFPA 101 permits dead-end corridors up to 50 feet in fully sprinklered healthcare occupancies, so a 40-foot dead-end is compliant.
During a fire emergency, a staff member must use a fire extinguisher on a small trash can fire. They should use the PASS technique, where the second 'S' stands for:
Answer: Sweep
In the PASS technique, the acronym stands for Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep—meaning to sweep the agent from side to side at the base of the fire.
A healthcare facility is planning construction in an occupied patient care wing. Which interim life safety measure (ILSM) is most likely required?
Answer: Increasing the frequency of fire drills and inspections during the project
When life safety features are compromised by construction, ILSMs such as increased fire drill frequency and additional inspections compensate for the temporary reduction in fire protection.