BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As organizations throughout the Gulf South region get ready for the start of another hurricane season on June 1, hospitals are learning how to take special care to prepare for unplanned emergencies and disasters.
Bonnie Spalding, a contingency cooling engineer at Trane, will address the planning process beginning at 9 a.m., Thursday, June 5, at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Hospital Association Society for Healthcare Engineers. Speaking at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, she will discuss the concept of "cooling contingency planning for hospitals" and share a step-by- step process for evaluating, establishing and implementing a contingency plan.
Spalding will quantify the cost of a cooling system interruption by describing the various factors that lead to lost revenue. She will describe the cooling contingency planning process, and provide healthcare engineers with the tools they will need to put together a plan for their hospitals.
Spalding is a healthcare engineer for Trane with a specialty in contingency cooling. She has a degree in mechanical engineering and nearly 20 years of industry experience.
The Mississippi Hospital Association Society for Healthcare Engineers' annual meeting is an educational event for engineers in health care facilities to strengthen and improve their engineering services.
Contingency Planning Minimizes Risk and Saves Dollars Crafting a contingency plan in case of fire or electrical outage is critical to ensure patient safety during emergencies. Hospitals often overlook planning for a cooling outage, even though failure to address the issue could be dangerous and costly.
A well-crafted cooling contingency plan makes it possible for hospitals to quickly and easily use temporary cooling in case normal indoor comfort systems are disrupted. Doing so: -- Minimizes downtime during an emergency to help keep patients and staff
safe and comfortable
-- Controls the cost of temporary cooling with preplanned building
modifications
-- Helps keep the facility operational, even during an emergency
-- Ensures temporary cooling connection equipment is properly installed
Trane's Cooling Contingency Plan Program
Trane's comprehensive cooling contingency plan program helps hospitals identify potential sources of cooling system failure and creates plans for each failure scenario.
This process establishes the required cooling and specific equipment needed to maintain cooling in critical areas. While the plan is being refined, recommendations may be made on facility modifications to prepare for temporary cooling. This allows faster installation in the event of an emergency.
When the cooling contingency plan is complete, it requires only a phone call to activate.
About the Mississippi Hospital Association Society for Healthcare Engineers The Mississippi Hospital Association Society for Healthcare Engineers works to advance the development of effective engineering management and techniques in hospitals or similar institutions that hold membership in the Mississippi Hospital Association. For more information, visit their website at http://www.mhanet.org/.
About Trane Building Services Trane Building Services is dedicated to optimizing the performance of buildings around the globe. Trane's suite of High Performance Building offers includes Energy Retrofit Services, Performance Contracting, Turn-key Services, and Comprehensive Solutions. All are customized and scalable, enabling building owners and executives to realize the benefits of high performance buildings and maximize their return on investment in building systems for the life of the building. One of the early developers of energy conscious applications and methods, Trane has received numerous environmental awards including the Sustainable Building Industry Council Best Practices Award, the U.S. EPA Climate Protection Award, the U.S. EPA Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award and the Federal Energy and Water Management Award. Trane has the largest percentage of USGBC LEED accredited professionals in the industry. As a certified Energy Service Company (ESCO) and tenured member of ASHRAE, ARI, and USGBC, Trane is dedicated to environmentally conscious building design and maintenance.
About Trane Trane Inc. (NYSE:TT) provides heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and services that enhance the quality and comfort of the air in homes and buildings around the world. The company offers customers a broad range of energy-efficient HVAC systems; dehumidifying and air cleaning products; service and parts support; advanced building controls; and financing solutions. The company's HVAC systems and services have leading positions in premium commercial, residential, institutional and industrial markets; a reputation for reliability, high quality and product innovation; and a powerful distribution network. Trane's 2007 annual revenues were approximately $7.45 billion and the company has about 29,600 employees worldwide. For more information, visit these Web sites: http://www.trane.com/ and http://www.americanstandardair.com/.
On Feb.1, 2007, Trane, then known as American Standard Companies and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol "ASD," announced plans to separate its three businesses. On July 31, 2007, the company completed the spinoff of its Vehicle Control Systems business as an independent company known as WABCO (NYSE:WBC). On Oct. 31, 2007, the company sold its Bath and Kitchen business to funds advised by Bain Capital Partners, LLC. On Nov. 28, 2007, the company changed its name to Trane to reflect its focus on its remaining business, Air Conditioning Systems and Services. On Dec. 17, 2007, Trane announced that it had entered into an agreement to be acquired by Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited (NYSE:IR). The agreement is expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2008. DATASOURCE: Trane CONTACT: Perri Richman of Trane, +1-732-980-6386, Web site: http://www.trane.com/ http://www.americanstandardair.com/ http://www.mhanet.org/
|