Medical Gas Systems

Piped medical gas - oxygen, medical air, vacuum, nitrous oxide, WAGD (waste anesthetic gas disposal) - is covered by NFPA 99 in the US, and it's one of the few areas where a BMET's work directly overlaps with facilities/plant engineering rather than staying purely within individual-device service.

Gas-specific, non-interchangeable fittings

DISS (Diameter Index Safety System) and quick-connect fittings are gas-specific by design - the physical dimensions differ per gas specifically to prevent a device from being connected to the wrong supply. Never force a fitting or adapt around a mismatch; if a fitting doesn't connect, that's the safety system working as intended, not an obstacle to route around.

Cylinder handling

Always secure cylinders - chained to a wall bracket or held in a proper cart - and confirm regulator compatibility before connecting. A dropped or unsecured oxygen cylinder is a real, serious hazard: the valve assembly can shear off under impact, turning a pressurized cylinder into an uncontrolled projectile. This isn't a theoretical risk - it's one of the specific, named hazards cylinder-handling training exists to prevent.

Zone valve awareness

Know where the zone valves are for any area you're working in before you start unrelated work nearby. Closing the wrong zone valve during an unrelated repair can cut off gas supply to occupied patient rooms without warning - this is a real, documented incident pathway, and it's entirely preventable by confirming zone boundaries before touching any valve, not after.

Area alarm panels

Master and area alarm panels continuously monitor line pressure for each gas and alert staff to a pressure excursion in either direction - both a low-pressure supply failure and an abnormally high pressure are alarm conditions, since both indicate something has gone wrong upstream. These panels themselves need periodic functional verification as part of the facility's medical gas maintenance program, not just the piping and outlets they monitor.