Agfa DR Room Certified for Earthquake Resistance by OSHPD, California, USA

MORTSEL, Belgium, July 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

• California's Seismic Safety Act requires hospitals to meet specific requirements to ensure safety of the public and that they can continue to operate following an earthquake.
• Non-structural components, including certain medical equipment is included in the legislation.
• Agfa's DR 600 has been pre-approved for use in projects under OSHPD's jurisdiction.

Agfa announces that it has successfully renewed its OSHPD Special Seismic Certification Pre-approval in California, USA, for the DR 600 X-ray room. The pre-approval ensures that the DR 600 complies with the AC-156 acceptance criteria for nonstructural components to be used in health facilities in California.

The successful completion of the stringent live tests also offers an important indicator of earthquake resistance for healthcare facilities around the world in areas that are subject to seismic activity.

Reliability under challenging conditions

Seismic activity in earthquake-prone regions poses a special challenge to hospitals, in terms of both construction practices and equipment installations. Many of these regions have adopted codes and standards to ensure that structures and equipment maintain their integrity despite earthquakes.

Following a devastating earthquake in California in 1994 that caused significant damage to multiple hospitals, California passed legislation to improve hospitals' resilience to seismic events. The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development of California (OSHPD), which regulates the healthcare facilities in California, offers equipment manufacturers the possibility to have their equipment pre-approved for use on healthcare facility projects under OSHPD's jurisdiction.

The stringent tests comprised in the AC-156 acceptance criteria cannot be carried out through analysis, but only through live shake tests to simulate the impact of a real earthquake.

DR 600 high-performance system meets AC-156 criteria

The ceiling-suspended, fully automatic DR 600 direct radiography (DR) room delivers high speed, precision and comfort, with innovative technologies including ZeroForce Technology for quick, easy manual movement of the tube head and EasyStitch Technology for full leg/full spine imaging.

Rigorous live testing was carried out on the DR 600, including the elevated table, the fully automated X-ray tube suspension with bridge, the motorized tilting bucky on a wall stand, the workstation, the DICOM widescreen touch monitor, generator and storage cabinet, and more. To ensure compliance, Agfa developed specific software and a mounting kit for the DR 600.

Testing was carried out by a third-party engineering facility, which found that the DR 600 meets the AC-156 requirements for structural integrity and manufacturer requirements for functionality.

"The successful renewal of our DR 600 seismic certification with OSHPD proves our ability to provide top-performance solutions that are reliable, even under very challenging conditions," comments Louis Kuitenbrouwer, Vice President, Radiology Solutions at Agfa. "The California certification requirements are known to be very stringent, so this result is important for hospitals anywhere that want to be prepared to continue providing care after earthquakes."

About Agfa

Agfa NV is one of the world's leading companies in imaging technology. Agfa NV develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry, for the healthcare sector, and for specific industrial applications. The group has more than 150 years of imaging experience. The healthcare division delivers diagnostic imaging solutions that set standards in productivity, safety, clinical value and cost effectiveness. Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe.

SOURCE Agfa N.V.