Key Takeaways:
Facilities teams are expected to prevent disruptions while managing constant operational demands. In critical healthcare spaces — including operating rooms, imaging suites, pharmacies, labs and data-adjacent infrastructure — water-related issues often go undetected for some time before becoming a problem.
In terms of damage and claims in healthcare facilities, water damage can be the most expensive item to address, where specialty equipment and patient water-related co-infection — such as waterborne pathogens like Legionella pneumophila and fungal spores like Aspergillus — can drive up claims.
Building teams are stretched for time and money, which can create a challenge to proactively watch for unseen problems. But because a healthcare facility is a place of constant human safety, knowledge is key.
Understanding what to look for and how to quickly respond to issues before, during and after water issues appear is critical for healthcare facilities managers to maintain continuity of operations.
Common water-damage-related issues including faulty plumbing, especially in older facilities that have undergone less preventive maintenance, says Steve Willis, chief commercial officer with MOORING Commercial Disaster Restoration.
Common sources of water damage include:
“While there may be no way to prevent all water damage threats, some proactive ways to help prevent these issues is a regularly scheduled preventative maintenance program, monitoring of building conditions and partnering with an experienced restoration vendor that will walk your facility with you and assist in identifying potential threats,” Willis says.
He recommends identifying the top five to 10 areas in a facility where water would cause the most harm or disruption. Evaluate each area, documenting water above, beside or below this space, how a technician would be alerted to a leak and where the shutoff is.
Once potential areas for water damage are assessed, go to your maintenance log and address easy hazards. Common examples of quick solutions could be to:
Steve Leasure, vice president of operations with Rainbow Restoration, a Neighborly company, says managers should create a water-related disaster recovery plan with facility leadership and the restoration provider. This preventive documentation should clearly outline who to contact, building access information, the priority areas and their shutoffs and additional steps to take in an emergency.
All teams should then review the documentation together.
“The best time to prepare for water damage is before it happens,” Leasure says. “Having a simple emergency response plan in place can help facilities respond faster and minimize disruption.”
Valerie Dennis Craven is a freelance writer in Plymouth, Minnesota.
