Medical Gas Piping Training and Certification

Standards, codes and regulations

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) includes standards for medical gas piping in their code for healthcare facilities, known as NFPA 99. In addition, the American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE), along with the National ITC Corporation (formerly the American Medical Gas Institute and the Piping Industry Progress and Education Fund) and other industry leaders, have established ANSI/ASSE Series 6000, Professional Qualifications Standards for Medical Gas Systems Installers, Inspectors and Verifiers, which provides minimum requirements for certification in medical gas system work.

The State of Ohio’s regulations are based on NFPA 99. While all work on medical gas distribution systems should follow NFPA 99 in its entirety to ensure patient safety and limit exposure to liability, only certain sections were mandated for enforcement by the state code. To document compliance with the new regulations, the Department of Commerce’s Division of Pressure Piping will conduct on-site evaluations to:

• Inspect the overall installation of medical gas piping
• Inspect all brazed joints in the system
• Seek verification that all brazing was done by state-certified brazers

Compliance

To comply with state regulations and, most importantly, to ensure the health and safety of patients, staff and visitors, all medical gas system installations and changes must be conducted by a certified installer. Certified installers meet the education requirements set by ANSI/ASSE Series 6000 and follow the procedures recommended by NFPA 99. Unqualified installers may be ignorant of these important standards or be unwilling to take the extra time and effort it involves to fully comply, leaving facilities with a medical gas system that is not only in violation of the law but potentially hazardous to health and life.

A certified medical gas system installer can also:

• Recognize and correct design problems prior to installation
• Eliminate legal liability resulting from improperly installed piping systems
• Ensure a problem-free accreditation process

Our training and certification center

The Cleveland Plumbing Industry Promotion and Education Fund (CPI) co-operates one of only two approved certification centers for medical gas piping in the state of Ohio (the other being the Mechanical Contractors Association of Central Ohio in Columbus).

Co-operated with the Plumbers Local 55, the center educates professional plumbers about the provisions of NFPA 99 and Ohio state regulations. The center’s curriculum, facilities and instructors meet or exceed the requirements of the National ITC Corporation, the premier medical gas training and certification organization in the U.S. The curriculum, designed by National ITC, consists of 32 hours of classroom work and hands-on training.

The state-of-the-art facility includes a large classroom with audio/visual and computer equipment, a mini-hospital completely furnished with medical equipment and piped for medical gas, twelve brazing stations, a conference room and offices. All instructors are experienced professionals.

The center is located at the offices of Plumbers Local 55 at 980 Keynote Circle in Brooklyn Heights, near the junction of I-77 and I-480.

Consulting and presentation services

Since special expertise is involved in designing, installing, alarming and maintaining medical gas piping systems, the Cleveland Medical Gas Piping Training and Certification Center offers the services of its expert faculty to organizations seeking advice and counsel in this area.

Affiliation

The center is affiliated with the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, which set standards for medical gas piping training.