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An IPS installation checklist for a healthcare facility starts long before the panel arrives on site. It begins with confirming the room classification, sizing the isolation transformer correctly, and making sure the insulation monitoring device is set up to alarm at the right threshold. Get those three things wrong and everything installed afterwards inherits the problem. This blog explains through what a proper checklist looks like for operating theatres, ICUs, and other patient areas across UAE hospitals.
If you have worked on a hospital electrical fit-out before, you’ll know that an IPS system isn’t just another item on the electrical schedule. It’s there to stop a single earth fault from turning into a shock hazard in a room where a patient might be connected to monitoring equipment or life support. Getting the installation sequence right matters more here than almost anywhere else in the building.
Why IPS Systems Carry Extra Weight in Hospitals
Ordinary electrical circuits trip a breaker the moment a fault occurs. That’s fine in an office or a corridor. In an operating theatre, cutting power mid-procedure isn’t an option, and neither is letting a fault current pass through equipment touching a patient. An isolated power supply keeps the circuit floating from earth, so a first fault doesn’t cause a shutdown or a shock. It simply triggers an alarm, giving staff time to finish what they’re doing before the fault is addressed.
The IPS Installation Checklist
Confirm the Room Classification First
Before any wiring plan is drawn, check whether the room falls under Group 1 or Group 2 medical locations as defined by IEC 60364-7-710. Operating theatres, recovery rooms, and ICUs typically sit in Group 2, where an isolated power supply is expected. General wards often don’t need one at all. Getting this classification wrong at the design stage leads to either an unnecessary system or a missing one, and both cause problems later.
Size the Isolation Transformer Correctly
The isolation transformer sits at the centre of the whole system, and its sizing has to match the actual load in the room, not a rough estimate. Oversizing wastes space and money. Undersizing leads to nuisance tripping once equipment is added later. A load schedule listing every device expected in that theatre, including future additions, should guide the transformer’s rating.
Select the Right Line Isolation Monitor
A line isolation monitor, or LIM, is what actually detects the first fault and raises the alarm. Different manufacturers set different alarm thresholds, and hospitals in the UAE generally follow the limit set out in IEC 60364-7-710, which triggers an alarm at a specific leakage current level. Confirm this setting matches the standard before the device is fixed in place, not after.
The remote alarm panel needs to sit somewhere staff will actually notice it during a procedure, usually near the anaesthetist’s station. A panel tucked into a corner defeats its purpose entirely.
Plan Equipotential Bonding Before Cabling Begins
Every metal fixture in a Group 2 room, from bed frames to gas outlets, needs to be bonded to the same reference point to prevent voltage differences between touchable surfaces. This bonding network should be mapped out before cables are pulled, since retrofitting bonding conductors into a finished room is far harder than doing it early.
Route and Label Circuits Clearly
Circuits feeding an IPS should never share conduit or trunking with standard circuits in the same room. Each isolated circuit needs clear labelling at the distribution board and at the socket outlets themselves, so anyone servicing the system later knows exactly what they’re looking at.
Test Insulation Resistance Before Energising
Once cabling is complete, insulation resistance testing should be carried out on every circuit before the system is switched on. Any reading below the expected threshold points to damaged cable insulation or a wiring fault, and it’s far cheaper to find that now than after the room is handed over.
Testing the Alarm With a Simulated Fault
Before commissioning, deliberately introduce a test fault and confirm the LIM alarm activates within the expected time and at the correct threshold. A system that looks correctly wired but has a faulty alarm setting offers no real protection at all.
Check Compliance With Local Authority Requirements
Dubai Civil Defence, DEWA, and the relevant health authority each have documentation requirements for medical electrical installations. Keep test certificates, load calculations, and commissioning reports together and available on site, since inspectors will ask for them before sign-off.
Train Facility Staff on Alarm Response
Facilities teams and clinical staff should understand that an alarm means a fault has occurred, not that power has failed, and that the procedure in progress can usually continue while the fault is investigated separately.
Document Everything for Long Term Maintenance
Keep a full record of transformer ratings, LIM settings, bonding diagrams, along with test results as part of the handover package. Hospitals often need this information years later when equipment is added or the room is renovated, and missing documentation makes that work slower and more expensive than it needs to be.
What Happens When a Step Gets Skipped
We have visited sites where the isolation transformer had been fitted correctly, yet the alarm threshold on the LIM was still sitting at the manufacturer’s default setting instead of being adjusted to match the standard that actually applies. The fault detection still worked, technically, but the alarm triggered far later than intended. Small oversights like this are exactly why each item on the checklist needs sign-off individually, rather than treating the whole installation as one block of work.
Bringing the Checklist Together
An IPS installation checklist protects more than the equipment in a room. Room classification, transformer sizing, bonding, alarm verification, and documentation all depend on each other, and skipping one weakens the reliability of the rest.
If your facility is planning a new theatre, ICU upgrade, or full electrical fit-out, our team at BTLME can support you through the design, installation, and commissioning of your isolated power supply systems in line with UAE healthcare regulations. Get in touch with us through BTLME to discuss your project before work begins on site.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
IPS stands for Isolated Power Supply, a system that keeps circuits floating from earth to prevent shock hazards in operating theatres and similar patient areas.
Most UAE healthcare facilities schedule testing annually, though the line isolation monitor’s alarm function and insulation resistance readings should also be checked whenever new equipment is added to the circuit or after any maintenance work is carried out nearby.
No, it’s generally required only in Group 2 medical locations such as operating theatres and ICUs, not in general wards or administrative areas.