The hospital has tiny little sensors all over the building and those sensors relay information to the automated lighting, heating, and security system.
- The sensors relay information like the temperature and the time of day, but they also have motion detectors.
Some of the automated lighting in the building only comes on when there is a person walking down the hall. For instance, there are automated lights in the hallway by the morgue. The hallway is rarely used by anyone, so placing automated sensors means we can save money on the cost for electricity in that part of the hospital. We also have automated lighting systems in all of the operating rooms, ER, and the main hospital lobby. When the automated lighting system went down, we had to contact the commercial contractor that handles all of the electrical problems in the hospital. I had to get approval from the main office to contact the commercial electrical contractor. After we got approval, we had to wait 3 days for an appointment. During that time, the sensors were going haywire. Sometimes the lights were on all day and sometimes they wouldn’t come on at all. After the commercial electrical contractor evaluated the problems, he realized that many of the sensors needed to be cleaned. He believed that simply cleaning the sensors would remedy the sporadic lighting problems. We had not cleaned any of the sensors since the beginning of the year. They were dusty and dirty and a little grimy too. The dirt and dust were the only reasons why the automated lighting system wasn’t working properly.