Life safety and building code specialist

Susan Barbuzzi

Susan Barbuzzi is a Civil Engineer and retired Life Safety Code Building Inspector with over 30 years of specialized experience inspecting, auditing, and regulating healthcare facility building safety. Her expertise focuses on physical environment compliance, fire safety evaluations, and regulatory standards required for hospitals, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities.

Having served as a Civil Engineer and Life Safety Code Building Inspector from 1992 through 2024, Ms. Barbuzzi conducted on-site facility inspections to evaluate compliance with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physical Environment standards. She possesses deep, technical knowledge of the Fire Safety Evaluation System (FSES), CMS waiver guidelines, and federal Emergency Preparedness Appendix Z requirements.

Prior to her role as a Life Safety Inspector, Ms. Barbuzzi served as Project Engineer IV for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, managing public facility construction projects and code compliance. She offers attorneys, facility owners, and health systems authoritative, objective technical analysis, code interpretation, and expert consultation in healthcare litigation involving building code compliance, fire safety, and physical environment liabilities.

NFPA 101 Life Safety Code Compliance: Expert interpretation and application of fire and building safety standards for existing and new healthcare structures.

CMS Physical Environment & Survey Standards: CMS guidelines, healthcare facility surveyor protocols, waiver evaluations, and FSES (Fire Safety Evaluation System) compliance.

Emergency Preparedness & Regulatory Oversight: Appendix Z emergency readiness standards, state and federal safety regulations for hospitals and nursing homes.

Building Construction & Maintenance Codes: Oversight of building codes, ANSI, NEEC, fuel gas, plumbing, and structural safety specifications.

Technical Report Writing & Litigation Support: Providing clear, evidence-based evaluations for architects, administrators, contractors, and legal teams.

B.S. in Civil Engineering – Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA (1987)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Training Certificates: Life Safety Code Survey Training Course Health Care Facility Surveyor Training Course Fire Safety Evaluation System (FSES) Courses Emergency Preparedness Appendix Z Courses

Honors & Awards: Young Alumni Award, Wentworth Institute of Technology (1997)

Profile text as published by Expert Consulting Services; credentials and licensure from the expert's current CV. ECS sends the full CV and fee schedule on request, and testimony history when you ask for it; nothing here is a substitute for those documents.

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Susan Barbuzzi, Life safety and building code specialist on the ECS expert panel

At a glance

Discipline: Life safety and building code specialist
Panel role: ECS expert panel
Case types: Matched on the screening call
Available for: Case and record review, expert reports, affidavits of merit, deposition, arbitration and trial, subject to conflicts and availability
What you receive: CV and fee schedule within 24 hours, and a complimentary introductory call with the expert. Testimony history on request. Conflict check normally run immediately before retention

How ECS works with counsel

Screening call
Twenty minutes with an elder care expert on the clinical, care and regulatory issues.
Match and availability
CV, fee schedule and availability within 24 hours, then a complimentary introductory call with the expert. Testimony history on request, conflict check at retention.
Case review and opinions
A verbal opinion first, then written opinions and merit affidavits where the case or state requires them.
Testimony
Report, deposition preparation, then deposition, arbitration or trial.