Sharon Regional Medical Center has been put on blast by the Pennsylvania Department of Health with a report detailing numerous safety violations found during an inspection.

According to the report, the violations were discovered during an inspection conducted in March of 2024. Some of these violations are due to be corrected later in May and some others have already been corrected as early as March.

Among these documented violations were lack of proper documentation of certain repairs or inspections for fire extinguishers, doors, etc., missing ceiling tiles, temporary generator cables installed without protection from damage and much more.

One violation stated that the fifth floor of the building was being used as a storage area with multiple patient rooms being used to store various combustible items. This was done without approval from the Department of Health.

Other cases of inappropriate storage of flammable material included one report of a bucket of oil and oily rags in the elevator machinery room.

Some of these violations have since been amended including the replacement of missing ceiling tiles in a room, as well as the remediation of a leak in that same room.

In other cases involving lack of documentation for fire extinguishers, the hospital blamed a change of fire alarm and sprinkler vendors stating that the new fire extinguishers were inspected by them according to the report. The report states that these fire extinguishers were scheduled to be inspected in April.

In some cases, violations were blamed on unpaid vendors such as one violation involving lack of repairs to door failures. 

"During the survey document review it was observed that the fire door repairs were not addressed following testing at the main campus due to vendor non-payment. There was a change in the Facilities Manager position and the door repairs were not scheduled," the report reads.

According to the report, the vendor has since been paid and contracted to begin repairs on the doors. The repairs are scheduled to begin May 15.

Vendor non-payment was also noted in violations regarding a fire alarm and sprinkler system deficiencies, as well as violations regarding lack of fire extinguisher inspections and smoke barrier requirements.

"During the Cancer Center survey document review it was observed that the annual fire alarm inspection, including the semi-annual visual inspections were not completed. There was a change in the fire alarm system vendor due to non-payment resulting in a scheduling delay," the report reads.

Fire alarm testing is expected to begin May 30 and continue for three weeks.

21 News has received the following statement from a spokesperson for Sharon Regional Medical Center:

“Sharon Regional Medical Center remains committed to the community and is focused on providing the highest quality of care to all patients in a safe environment. Patient safety is paramount to what we do, and we work very hard to comply with all state regulations. The Department of Health inspections make us better and Steward is investing in the hospital and working closely with Sharon Regional’s administrative team to address and correct all findings in the recent survey.”