Oxygen Cascade Systems

[Guest guest]

There are regulations through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

about repackaging oxygen from one cylinder to another. There are some

stringent regulations on what you have to do such as keeping logs and

put stickers on the new bottles, put plastic covers on the outlets and

purchasing a special vacuum machine to vacuum out all the excess oxygen

from a bottle before you refill. The best thing to do to get

information is to go to your local medical supply store that does this

and ask them what their regulations are and what they have to conform

to. Chances are, you will have to follow the same FDA regulations and

procedures they do; or you do it against regulations like many, many EMS

agencies have been doing it for years.

Ron A. Derrick LP NREMT-P

Safety and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator

Sid Memorial Hospital

Kerrville, Texas

________________________________

From: texasems-l [mailto:texasems-l ] On

Behalf Of simple_emt

Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 6:12 AM

To: texasems-l

Subject: Re: Oxygen Cascade Systems

Dail 911 and I will tell ya wrote:

> Unless you have a license from TCEQ and TDH to fill oxygen

> container(s).

A cascade system is a means of transferring oxygen from one container

into another... simple repackaging. The only regulatory body in the

state which might have rules that regulate repackaging would be the

Texas State Board of Pharmacy. Perhaps Mr. " Dail 911 and I will tell

ya " can provide cites to these TCEQ or " TDH " rules of which he refers.

--

[Guest guest]

There are regulations through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

about repackaging oxygen from one cylinder to another. There are some

stringent regulations on what you have to do such as keeping logs so you

can track where the O2 came from and where it went and putting stickers

on the new bottles. You must also put plastic covers on the outlets and

purchasing a special vacuum machine to vacuum out all the excess oxygen

from a bottle before you refill. The best thing to do to get

information is to go to your local medical supply store that refills O2

and ask them what their regulations are and what they have to conform

to. Chances are, you have to follow the same FDA regulations and

procedures they do; or you do it against regulations like many, many EMS

agencies have been doing it for years.

Ron A. Derrick LP NREMT-P

Safety and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator

Sid Memorial Hospital

Kerrville, Texas