Ensuring life safety compliance is a critical responsibility for healthcare organizations. But let’s face it—juggling complex regulations like NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, meeting accreditation requirements, and ensuring patient safety is no easy task. The good news? In 2025, it doesn’t have to be that difficult. Life safety inspection software takes the heavy lifting out of compliance, simplifying processes, reducing risks, and ensuring healthcare facilities stay on top of industry standards without sacrificing quality. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to choose the right software to meet your specific needs.
Table of Contents
- Life Safety Compliance in Healthcare: NFPA 101 Essentials
- Life Safety Inspection Software: Key Features
- Other Essential Attributes of Life Safety Software
- How to Choose the Right Software
- Optimizing Life Safety Inspections With Software: A Practical Guide
- PlanRadar Takes Life Safety Compliance to a New Level
Life Safety Compliance in Healthcare: NFPA 101 Essentials
The NFPA 101 Life Safety Code is the most widely used source for building safety and fire protection in healthcare facilities. Its requirements are designed to protect patients, staff, and visitors from fire hazards. And for good reason: In 2023, the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) recorded about 6,000 fires in medical facilities across the United States.
This demonstrates that compliance with NFPA 101 is an important responsibility for healthcare facilities, especially those seeking accreditation from organizations like the Joint Commission.
Life Safety Inspection Software: Key Features Healthcare Facilities and Service Providers Need
Choosing the right life safety inspection software involves assessing various features to ensure it meets the unique demands of healthcare facilities. The following table lists key aspects. Please note, however, that software requirements can vary depending on the users, companies, and healthcare facilities in which it is used.
| Feature | Description |
| Simple, Fast Reporting Aligned with NFPA 101 | Generate real-time reports that align with NFPA 101, include photos, notes, and geolocation data, simplifying compliance tracking and making audits more efficient. |
| Mobile and On-Site Usability | Enhance efficiency and accuracy by capturing data directly on-site using mobile devices, even in offline conditions. |
| Flexible and Easily Adjustable Software | Easily adjust processes and reporting tools to stay current with evolving healthcare regulations and requirements. |
| Effective Deficiency Tracking and Follow-Up | Efficiently track deficiencies, delegate tasks, verify corrective actions, and maintain secure, audit-ready documentation. |
| Audit-Ready Documentation | Maintain comprehensive, protected records of all inspection activities, ensuring data integrity and accessibility during audits. |
Additional Considerations for Healthcare Facilities
Beyond core features, certain attributes can enhance the long-term usability and efficiency of life safety software for healthcare organizations.
| Consideration | Determining Factors |
| Scalability | Ensure the software can grow with your healthcare network, whether expanding to new locations or adding more facilities. |
| User-Friendliness | Look for a solution that is easy for your team to learn and use efficiently, minimizing training requirements. |
| System Integration | Verify that the software integrates seamlessly with existing systems, such as building management and compliance platforms. |
| Customer Support | Ensure the provider offers reliable support for troubleshooting issues during implementation and daily use. |
How to Choose the Right Software
Now that you have clarity about the features and considerations that matter most for life safety compliance in healthcare, it’s time to look at the selection process. Here’s a straightforward approach:
1. Define Your Requirements
Identify your must-have and nice-to-have features. Must-haves are non-negotiable, like NFPA 101 compliance tracking or effective deficiency management, while nice-to-haves might include advanced reporting tools or integration capabilities. Use these criteria to shortlist software solutions that align with your healthcare facility’s needs.
2. Test the Software in Practice
Nothing offers a better understanding of software than testing it in real-world healthcare scenarios. Take advantage of free trials or demos to evaluate usability, features, and performance in your specific environment.
3. Get Feedback from Your Team
Even the best software can fall short if your team finds it difficult to use. Involve future users early in the process, allowing them to test the software and share feedback. This step helps identify usability issues and ensures smooth adoption.
Following these steps will guide you toward selecting life safety software that enhances efficiency, supports compliance, and gains user acceptance across your healthcare organization.
Optimizing Life Safety Inspections for Healthcare Facilities With Software: A Practical Guide
Digitalizing life safety inspections makes compliance management more efficient, improves accuracy, and ensures healthcare organizations remain compliant. Here’s how the process works, illustrated by RTM Consultants’ experience using the PlanRadar platform.
RTM Consultants is a specialty contractor focusing on life safety code compliance in healthcare. They work with healthcare networks of various sizes, providing services ranging from design and plan reviews to existing life safety assessments.
Step 1: Planning and Preparation
What to Do
- Define the scope of the inspection.
- Understand the facility’s requirements.
- Prepare inspection templates.
- Upload relevant life safety plans and building documentation.
RTM Consultants in Action
After securing a project, RTM Consultants set up new projects in PlanRadar, uploading the existing life safety plans and preparing custom digital forms. These forms include fields for building name, zone name (smoke compartments for patient evacuation), floors, noted deficiencies, corrective actions, and repair groups. The software setup ensures that life safety inspections align with NFPA 101 requirements and client-specific needs.
Step 2: On-Site Execution
What to Do
- Use mobile devices to capture data directly on-site, including deficiencies, photos, and geolocation data.
- Prioritize efficiency by recording only key information initially and refining it later.
RTM Consultants in Action
Inspectors work from the top of the building downwards, capturing deficiencies and relevant notes in PlanRadar. By utilizing the software’s List View feature, they can effectively track progress and ensure coverage of all areas. Teams typically spend a week on-site, then a few days in the office refining the reports. What used to take 4-5 days of reporting is now reduced to 2-3 days, saving valuable time and allowing the team to take on more projects.
Step 3: Quality Control and Review
What to Do
- Implement a two-level review process to ensure accuracy.
- Organize captured data for efficient review, editing where necessary, and ensuring data integrity.
RTM Consultants in Action
Data is reviewed by senior team members first, then escalated to owners if needed. PlanRadar’s List View feature is used to streamline this process, making it easy to identify issues requiring attention.
Step 4: Reporting and Client Deliverables
What to Do
- Generate detailed reports in PDF or spreadsheet format, structured for compliance and clarity.
- Provide branded reports for clients when needed.
RTM Consultants in Action
RTM Consultants generate client-ready reports in PDF format with detailed breakdowns of deficiencies, recommendations, and prioritization. They also provide an Excel file with all deficiencies for easier data handling. The ability to customize reports with their branding enhances their professional presentation.
Step 5: Ongoing Monitoring and Follow-Up
What To Do
- Use software tools to track compliance improvements over time.
- Maintain a comprehensive audit trail.
RTM Consultants in Action
By leveraging PlanRadar’s tracking features, RTM Consultants can monitor compliance progress over time. The software’s ability to streamline ongoing assessments ensures facilities remain compliant and up-to-date with the latest standards, allowing RTM Consultants to maintain high quality without the need for additional personnel.
PlanRadar: Taking Life Safety Compliance to the Next Level
PlanRadar is a platform for documentation, communication and reporting that healthcare organizations and service providers in the healthcare sector rely on for managing life safety compliance efficiently.
PlanRadar was designed to make your workday easier:
Flexibility for Changing Healthcare Requirements: Tailor inspection forms, checklists, and reports to match evolving healthcare standards and facility-specific needs.
Ease of Use and Fast Implementation: The platform is designed for simplicity, allowing inspectors and teams to get started quickly with minimal training—whether they are experienced professionals or new hires.
Significant Time Savings on Compliance Reporting: PlanRadar cuts down reporting time by half, enabling healthcare teams to focus more on inspections and less on documentation.
Centralized, Digital Management of Life Safety Processes: All documentation, communication, and reporting are securely stored in one place, accessible 24/7 for efficient collaboration.
The result? 94% of customers say PlanRadar reduces time spent compiling reports.
By using the platform, healthcare organizations and service providers can enhance their compliance processes, reduce time spent on administrative tasks, and focus on what truly matters—providing safe, reliable environments for patients and staff.
PlanRadar has become a game changer for us. The ability to add the life safety drawings of our hospitals as plans in the program has allowed us the ability to walk our physical floor locations in real time during our surveys. Creating tickets using the plan position allows us to document and complete survey findings with pinpoint accuracy.
Boost your efficiency and test PlanRadar for healthcare life safety compliance now free of charge for 30 days!
