As the person who submitted this proposal to NFPA, I would say this is absolutely a deficiency and should not be allowed to be used on patients until the odor source is identified and corrected. If for no other reason than to cover your butt. Many of us have probably been called to a facility due to patient complaining of odor after (someone else) verified the system. Your insurance company would probably not be a happy camper if they must pay part or all expenses (on your behalf) to close hospital wings, open walls, rent backup med gas equipment, replace piping and/or cylinders or worst.
See my NFPA 99 original submission in quotes below. Note that I suggested this be included, by suggested section number and justification, after the piping is connected to the source gas because, I have seen a few instances of odor caused by the source of supply itself. In my opinion this would be better placed after connecting to the source, as odor can still be present but not discovered during verification due to not doing odor testing with source gas. I would highly recommend testing all positive pressure gases for odor after the new work in connected to the sources of supply.
Proposal Submitted:
“NFPA 99 2015 5.1.12.3.10.4
New Section:
All positive pressure gas outlets, except nitrous oxide, shall be tested for odor. No appreciable odor shall be discernible. At an outlet flow of approximately 10 L/min, deflect a portion of the gas stream toward the nose and sniff. Do not direct the outlet gas stream toward the face.
Justification:
Odor is presently not required during the verification process, but is seen too frequently when tubing plugs are brazed into the piping system during installation, causing an offensive odor. Gas odor is at times missed resulting in costly opening of walls, etc. and sometimes causing delayed clinical unit openings to remove the piping sections involved.
Occasionally the problem is not noted until patient use, resulting in costly clinical unit(s) unplanned shutdowns.
The odor test should be performed with source gas, because the source gas itself is occasionally the cause of the odor.
The new section methodology is similar to the USP test required on some medical gases.
Although odor can be subjective between individuals, a “discernible odor” would be caught by the vast majority of verifiers.
Perhaps a clarification in the Appendix would be helpful explaining the difference between breathing the gas under test and just sniffing it for odor.”
George Scott