Alabama nursing homes must have installed full sprinkler systems by 2007, the State Committee of Public Health has ruled in an amendment to an existing national safety code. The Life Safety Code currently regulates state and federal sprinkler systems but allows various facilities to operate without the systems.
Under the new amendment, seven nursing homes without systems and nine facilities in multistory buildings with partial coverage must install full systems by Jan. 1, 2006. In a second phase, by Sept. 1, 2006 full systems will be required of 30 nursing homes in one-story buildings with partial sprinkler systems. By Feb. 1, 2007, 24 facilities with isolated rooms or closets not covered by systems will be required to install systems.
After a nursing home fire causing 14 deaths, Tennessee also enacted similar legislature requiring all nursing homes to be equipped with full sprinkler systems by Nov. 1, 2006.
