S0170 requires hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities in South Carolina to adopt and implement policies that prevent exposure to surgical smoke by mandating the use of a smoke evacuation system during surgical procedures likely to generate smoke. The bill defines surgical smoke broadly to include plume, bio-aerosols, laser-generated airborne contaminants, and other lung-damaging dust produced by lasers and electrosurgical devices, and it defines a smoke evacuation system as equipment that captures and filters smoke at the source before it reaches occupants in the room.
The bill applies to licensed facilities as defined in existing law and creates a new section in Title 44, Chapter 7 of the South Carolina Code. It takes effect July 1, 2026, but delays implementation until January 1, 2027 for certain smaller or resource-limited hospitals, including critical access hospitals, hospitals with fewer than 50 acute care beds, sole community hospitals, Medicare-dependent hospitals, and hospitals with six or fewer operating rooms.
Impact
The bill would add Section 44-7-387 to the South Carolina Code, creating a new statewide patient- and worker-safety requirement for hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities. It would require affected facilities to establish policies and use smoke evacuation equipment during procedures that generate surgical smoke, thereby imposing a new operational and compliance obligation on licensed facilities and likely affecting purchasing, training, and procedure protocols. The staggered effective date gives smaller hospitals and certain Medicare-designated facilities an extra six months to comply.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests strong support for the bill: it passed the Senate on second reading by a unanimous 41-0 vote. No committee transcript is available, but the vote indicates broad agreement with the measure’s public-health and workplace-safety goals. The absence of recorded opposition in the available materials suggests the bill was viewed favorably across the chamber.
Contention
No specific objections are documented in the available committee materials, but the bill’s main practical burden falls on hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities that must purchase and implement smoke evacuation systems. The staggered compliance date for smaller hospitals and certain Medicare-related facilities suggests lawmakers recognized that cost, staffing, and equipment availability could be more challenging for rural or resource-limited providers. Any contention would likely center on implementation costs, operational flexibility, and whether the mandate is necessary for all surgical settings.