Webinars

This presentation is a desk stop study review of recent guidance documents to highlight the importance of Ventilation as an Engineering Control Mechanism in the fight against COVID 19 and to examine the common ventilation related parameters referred to in numerous reports and guidance documents that influence its effectiveness. As the risk management hierarchy of controls shows engineering controls perform a vital part in reducing risk of infection to building occupants. Compliance with current public health national guidelines and standards is also required to keep the virus out of a facility in the first instance. By using proven methodologies and technologies to reduce the probability of exposure should assist in controlling the indoor healthcare environment and reducing risk. Some items of control include direct source capture using local exhaust ventilation, controlling airflow direction to prevent cross-contamination, dilution and removal of contaminated air via mechanical ventilation and air cleaning through HEPA filtration and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation are referred within the presentation.

About the Speaker: Mr. Redington has over 27 years of experience in the areas of engineering design, project management, and facilities management in the Healthcare Engineering Management Sector. Mr. Redington career has included engineering design of HVAC, Piping and Control systems; Project Management, Commissioning, Forensic engineering, project Dispute Resolution and Project Execution Management. He has worked for many years mainly in the Healthcare Sector but also for several years with high-tech\industrial clients. He has worked as liaison between the design team and construction team for many years from a Quality & Standards compliance perspective. Mr. Redington sits on many Building Services Engineering Healthcare Standards committees both nationally at European level and internationally. He has developed many standards/guidance documents through NSAI, HSE, HPSC and co-authored several articles on aspects of Healthcare Engineering standards

New evidence on SARS-CoV-2 airborne transmission has made ventilation measures the most important engineering controls in the infection control. While physical distancing is important to avoid a close contact, the risk of an aerosol concentration and cross-infection from 1.5 m onward from an infected person can be reduced with adequate ventilation and effective air distribution solutions. Three levels of guidance are discussed in the presentation: (1) how to operate HVAC and other building services in existing buildings right now during an epidemic; (2) how to conduct a risk assessment and assess the safety of different buildings and rooms; and (3) what would be more far-reaching actions to further reduce the spread of viral diseases in future in buildings with improved ventilation systems.

About the Speaker: Jarek Kurnitski is a Professor at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, and at Aalto University, Finland. As Chair of REHVA Technology and Research Committee he has been leading REHVA COVID-19 Task Force preparing European HVAC guidance for an epidemic situation. He is the leader of Estonian Center of Excellence in Research ZEBE, Zero Energy and Resource Efficient Smart Buildings and Districts. He is internationally known for the preparation of technical definitions for nearly zero energy buildings through many activities in REHVA Technology and Research Committee and contributions to European standards. He has been deeply involved in the work to improve the energy efficiency and indoor climate of the built environment in Estonia and Finland with major contribution in the development of energy calculation frames for present energy performance regulations