1st thought: Let's say you have engineered wood surfaces in a just-vacated patient room - a room now tagged "MDR Pathogen Positive, Double-Sterilize ALL Surfaces". Do your normal cleaning/sterilizing products and procedures work correctly on those wood surfaces?
2nd thought: The fire inspector just got interested. He wants to see your documentation - for that engineered wood meeting Hospital-level fire resistance standards at 30% oxygen.
PaulHoule•6mo ago
I remember studies in China that showed the natural antibacterial properties of wood help with chopstick safety. I mean, trees don't get eaten alive by bacteria.
So far as fires and such: your local fire marshal would live to put a scare in you by burning up a polyurethane couch at a training facility. Wood naturally forms a char and likes to pyrolize slowly: it produces benzopyrenes and such but not with the deadly efficiency of a plastics fire. They have to add really nasty stuff to plastics to make them form a nice char.
bell-cot•6mo ago
True and true. OTOH...
"Natural antibacterial properties" is not a regulatory certification. The hospital is regulated, and may also feel responsible for making sure that they can 100% sterilize surfaces - after those have been exposed to a wide variety of bacterial, and fungal, and viral human pathogens. Maybe add prions to that list.
My rhetorical fire marshal isn't the point. Fire behaves very differently when oxygen levels are elevated. Are you familiar with how wood fires behave at various % O2 levels? (I don't actually know that 30% O2 is the hospital fire safety standard. The standard my vary by state, or be higher in ICU's, or etc.)
EDIT: Bigger picture: Yes, using wood looks plausible. And it could help patient, staff, and visitor moods. But hospitals are not a "just try it, and see what goes wrong" use case.
setr•6mo ago
> I mean, trees don't get eaten alive by bacteria.
Neither do I but I don’t think my natural antibacterial properties are sufficient for a hospital
rkagerer•6mo ago
Heavy timber generally takes longer to ignite, and longer to reach temperatures that can give rise to rapid fire events like flashover. It also tends to be more structurally sound under fire conditions than regular wood construction or plastics. It has a whole NFPA building type classification to itself (Type IV), and from a firefighting perspective can be safer to work in.
That said, because it lasts longer, it can reach higher temperatures when it does become fully involved (maybe that'll help with your first thought ;-) ). It's also nowhere near as fire-safe as Type I fire resistant structures made from concrete and protected steel, materials modern hospitals are traditionally constructed from.
dv_dt•6mo ago
Related science: wood cutting boards are antibacterial, look for a paper by Dean Cliver, Plastic and Wood Cutting Boards
aitchnyu•6mo ago
Does the antimicrobial property of brass make it the perfect choice for high touch fixtures in hospital? IIRC an internet stranger went to a hospital with brass doorknob, elevator buttons etc.
bell-cot•6mo ago
2nd thought: The fire inspector just got interested. He wants to see your documentation - for that engineered wood meeting Hospital-level fire resistance standards at 30% oxygen.
PaulHoule•6mo ago
So far as fires and such: your local fire marshal would live to put a scare in you by burning up a polyurethane couch at a training facility. Wood naturally forms a char and likes to pyrolize slowly: it produces benzopyrenes and such but not with the deadly efficiency of a plastics fire. They have to add really nasty stuff to plastics to make them form a nice char.
bell-cot•6mo ago
"Natural antibacterial properties" is not a regulatory certification. The hospital is regulated, and may also feel responsible for making sure that they can 100% sterilize surfaces - after those have been exposed to a wide variety of bacterial, and fungal, and viral human pathogens. Maybe add prions to that list.
My rhetorical fire marshal isn't the point. Fire behaves very differently when oxygen levels are elevated. Are you familiar with how wood fires behave at various % O2 levels? (I don't actually know that 30% O2 is the hospital fire safety standard. The standard my vary by state, or be higher in ICU's, or etc.)
EDIT: Bigger picture: Yes, using wood looks plausible. And it could help patient, staff, and visitor moods. But hospitals are not a "just try it, and see what goes wrong" use case.
setr•6mo ago
Neither do I but I don’t think my natural antibacterial properties are sufficient for a hospital
rkagerer•6mo ago
That said, because it lasts longer, it can reach higher temperatures when it does become fully involved (maybe that'll help with your first thought ;-) ). It's also nowhere near as fire-safe as Type I fire resistant structures made from concrete and protected steel, materials modern hospitals are traditionally constructed from.