Member tools task force establishes top priorities

American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) members contribute to association priorities in many ways; one key avenue is by being part of the ASHE Member Tools Task Force (MTTF). This group met via conference call in September to discuss priorities for 2022. About 100 members were on the call, says Jonathan Flannery, MHSA, FASHE, FACHE, ASHE’s senior associate director of advocacy.

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“Based on the call, we come up with a list of the 30 top items that we’ll address in the coming year,” Flannery says. The items are placed into three categories: Those that warrant a full article in Health Facilities Management (HFM); those that can be handled with a short article; and those that will be Advocacy Adviser columns. Some of the articles include tables or tools that help members deal with the issues.

For example, the January/February 2021 Advocacy Adviser column focuses on the requirements for generator battery inspections. “That’s a real hot topic right now,” Flannery says. “People are concerned about it.” 

Another example is a full article scheduled for May on the differences between the Life Safety Code and the International Building Code. The article will clarify the differences in nomenclature. “A lot of people struggle or fail to understand the differences between the two,” Flannery says. “For example, what’s the difference between a ‘smoke barrier’ and a ‘smoke wall’? Fundamentally they are the same thing, but there are small differences in what you call them in the Life Safety Code and the International Building Code.”

Other planned articles for the year include an Advocacy Adviser column on maintaining egress corridors, a short article on asset life-cycle maintenance and a full article on building a case for in-house maintenance.