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Medical equipment used in the United States and Canada has to meet certain requirements. These requirements include the power cord or cordset that is attached to the medical equipment. In order to sell electrical equipment that adheres to the medical standards, the product safety agency construction and performance requirements must be reviewed for the North American hospital-grade NEMA 5-15 plug.
First and foremost are the requirements in the U.S. National Electrical Code (NEC) and Canadian Electrical Code. Both document electrical wiring requirements for a wide variety of applications including commercial, industrial, residential, and as it relates to this article, hospital buildings. For example, NEC article 517-18b requires wall mount receptacles located near a patient's bed to "be listed 'hospital grade' and so identified." Furthermore, the applicable UL (Underwriters Laboratories) and CSA (Canadian Standards Association) standards for the wall mount receptacles specify the green dot to identify hospital-grade.
Medical equipment used in the U.S. and Canada must meet UL 60601-1 and CAN/CSA C22.2 60601-1, both of which are based on IEC 60601-1. This article will focus on UL's requirements, which are almost identical to CSA's. UL's medical equipment standard, UL 60601-1 specifies in section 57.2DV.1 that the mains plug for patient care equipment comply with the requirements for a hospital grade attachment plug (mains plug) per UL's standard for attachment plugs and receptacles, UL 498. In addition, section...