Health Technical Memorandum 2014: abatement of electrical interference

This paper presents a precis of HMSO document Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 2014. Health Technical Memoranda are guidance documents prepared in response to the National Health Service´s needs for satisfactorily providing electrical services within health care premises (HCP). HCP regularly use highly technical equipment and systems in the presence of sensitive physiological equipment and vulnerable patients. Medical-electrical equipment in HCP is equally susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) as any other electrical equipment. The consequences of such susceptibility, however, could be fatal. Equipment which intentionally generates electromagnetic emissions, such as radio communications and diathermy equipment, can cause interference to sensitive patient-monitoring equipment such as an electrocardiograph. Such electromagnetic emissions must be regulated and the response of sensitive equipment to external interference must be controlled