Use of Sterno Burners in Dining Room
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to maintain an environment free of accident hazards in one of its dining areas, specifically the second-floor dining room. During an observation, it was noted that four hotel pans containing food were being warmed by eight sterno burners, which are fueled by denatured and jellied alcohol. This practice is in violation of the National Fire Protection Agency's (NFPA) 96 standard, which prohibits open flames in health care settings. Interviews with dietary employees revealed that the steam table had broken, and the sterno burners had been used for about a month to keep the food warm until the steam table could be replaced. The Nursing Home Administrator confirmed that open flames should not be present in the nursing home and instructed the dietary staff to extinguish the sterno flames.
Plan Of Correction
483.25(d)(1)(2) Free of Accident Hazards/Supervision/Devices 483/25(d) Accidents The facility must ensure that 483.25(d)(1) the resident environment remains as free of accident hazards as is possible; and 483.25(d)(2) Each resident received adequate supervision and assistance devices to prevent accidents. The facility failed to provide an environment free of accident hazards for one of the two dining areas per National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) 96. Upon knowledge of the open flames, the flames were turned off. The Dining Leadership team and Maintenance were called. The steam table that was not working was fixed and working by 2pm on 4/9/25. The emergency plan will be if the steam tables are not working, portable steam wells will be in place with electricity. A policy was created on 4/10/25 to use the portable steam tables. Audits will only need to be done when steam tables would not be working, and portable steam wells are in use. Audits would be completed for each meal period the portable steam wells are in use. Staff were educated on 4/9/25 not to use sternos and on 4/22/25 of the new process with the steam wells.