ADA: Plumbing, Piping and Protection

A new ASTM International standard is designed to help improve safety of public restrooms for people with disabilities. Specifically, the new standard, C1822, Specification for Insulating Covers on Accessible Lavatory Piping, provides guidance on protecting people from exposed pipes in accessible lavatories. As part of the Americans with Disability Act, exposed piping in public restrooms must be insulated or configured to protect people in wheelchairs or with other disabilities.

Insulating covers must protect against burns and other adverse reactions due to contact with hot or cold pipes. Covers must also reduce the potential for injury from contact with sharp or abrasive elements of piping.

“The number of people that use accessible restrooms is growing in many parts of the world,” says ASTM member Howard Ahern. “Here in the United States, for example, we have an aging population, many disabled veterans, and a growing level of mobility for wheelchair users.”

The new standard identifies insulation materials and also provides safety, health and durability criteria for combinations of materials and performance. As part of that, it allows designers and specifiers to select from four fire performance classifications, depending on the type of building being designed.

Read the notice at: http://www.astmnewsroom.org/default.aspx?pageid=3881

This Quick Read was submitted by Dan Hounsell, editor-in-chief of Facility Maintenance Decisions, dan.hounsell@tradepressmedia.com. Read about chiller retrofits and refrigerant management here.

Next

---

Read next on FacilitiesNet