We recently completed installation of a support structure for a heavy service boom inside a Pittsburgh area hospital. This installation was extremely time sensitive because shutting down this portion of the hospital would have required hours of coordination with hospital staff and allowing this Cath Lab to sit idle for days would have resulted in significant amounts of lost revenue.
Some contractors utilize traditional structural steel and red iron supports when fabricating medical equipment supports but they are beginning to learn about new and improved construction techniques.
Red iron supports add to project costs by requiring shop and field fabrication time because the support grid system must be custom designed to the unique specifications of each piece of medical equipment. In addition, special care must be taken to anticipate and accommodate existing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems in close proximity to the installation. Fabricating a medical support structure using red iron supports for this installation would have also required welding, introducing potentially harmful airborne contaminants into a hospital setting. To minimize the effect of these contaminants, hospital administrators looked at performing the installation at night, or temporarily closing down the wing. Both options carried significant additional costs that contributed more red ink to a project that was already over budget.
After meeting with hospital administrators, our application engineers recommended constructing the new support structure using the Hilti MI system. Because this system is modular, support members can be pulled from the shelf in stock lengths and installed immediately without welding or cutting. The Hilti MI system easily accommodates a wide range of operating room, CT, x-ray, and heart catheterization lab equipment manufactured by GE, Toshiba, Siemens
Although contractors often use red iron structural steel supports to suspend medical equipment in hospital settings, significant cost savings and versatility make the new Hilti MI Support System an excellent alternative to traditional fabrication methods. This system also helps keep hospital construction and upgrade projects on schedule and on budget by preventing the need for extra work, such as welding and rerouting of mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems. To learn more about the Hilti MI Support System, or to request a consultation, contact the medical support installation experts at Unistrut Service Company.