What is BMP?

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations created the Building Maintenance Program (BMP) as a tool designed for health care facility managers to monitor and resolve maintenance-related Life Safety Code (LSC) deficiencies on an ongoing basis in lieu of identifying specific locations and creating a Plan for Improvement (PFI).

The 10 items that may be included in the BMP may, by virtue of their nature, fail at any time, causing a situation of non-compliance with the LSC. The items include fire doors, linen chutes, smoke doors, corridor doors, smoke barrier walls, corridor walls, egress lighting, exit signs, exits (free of ice and snow), and grease-producing devices.

During Joint Commission surveys, inspectors will flag every fire door, corridor door, etc., that is not compliant, often citing the facility and possibly conducting a follow-up inspection soon thereafter. It’s likely every inspection will result in flagging, as having 100 percent of all maintenance-related life safety elements compliant at one time is unlikely.

But, with a BMP, facility managers simply need to demonstrate they have maintained a 95 percent or better compliance for each item type included.