Code Application Notice (CAN) 2-11B, 09-09-2014

INTERPRETATION

General exceptions to the accessibility requirements are identified in Section 11B-203 and are exempt from these requirements only to the extent specified by Section 11B-203. The exception(s) are provided under specific requirements. Unless there is an exception, each space and/or element must be made accessible in compliance with Chapter 11B.

Employee work area is defined in Section 202 as: "All or any portion of a space used only by employees and only for work. Corridors, toilet rooms, kitchenettes and break rooms are not employee work areas."

Specific employee work areas in health facilities include, but are not limited to: nurse sub-stations, operating room tables, counters in clinical laboratories, imaging equipment, control/workstations in imaging rooms, and housekeeping rooms. For imaging equipment, the aisle width requirements shall apply to only those sides of the equipment where staff typically work to provide medical care to patients, including assisted transfer onto and off of the apparatus table. Section 11B-206.2.8 requires common use circulation paths within work areas shall comply with Section 11B-402.

Employee for the purpose of this Code Application Notice is interchangeable with the term "staff personnel" as used in CPC Section 422.2.1 and includes: employees, personnel, Full Time Equivalents (FTEs), hospital volunteers, medical staff, administrative staff, technical staff, service staff, security staff, etc. Note that the term "patient" includes inpatients and outpatients. "Ambulatory outpatients" are considered "the public" until they are received into the particular outpatient service department they are seeing. The term "visitor" is interchangeable with the term "public" and includes guests, family members and friends of patients, law enforcement, ambulance drivers, members of the public and "outpatients" on their way to an outpatient department, etc.

Common use is defined in Section 202 as: "Interior or exterior circulation paths, rooms, spaces or elements that are not for public use and are made available for the shared use of two or more people." Common use circulation paths, rooms, spaces and elements must be made accessible. See Section 11B-223.2.

Workstation is defined in Section 202 and generally is for one employee or a small number of employees. Therefore, a specific workstation is not typically interpreted as an entire room. Employee workstations would include spaces where a single staff member works such as an imaging technician’s control booth, block and mold rooms, hot lab, etc. A satellite nurse station may be considered an employee work area. Reception desks, nurse stations, clean and soiled utility rooms, clean linen storage, and nourishment areas are generally used by multiple medical staff and considered common use and not employee work areas. Consequently these areas, including built-in cabinets and handwashing fixtures, must be fully compliant with relevant sections in Chapter 11B.