The Biden Administration recently launched the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge that calls on all building owners and operators, schools, colleges and universities, and organizations to adopt strategies to improve indoor air quality in their buildings and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
In conjunction with that announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a best practices guide for improving indoor air quality and reducing the risk of spreading dangerous airborne particles. The guide, developed in collaboration with the Department of Energy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other federal agencies, contains a set of recommendations organized into four groups:
- Create a clean indoor air action plan that assesses indoor air quality, plans for upgrades and improvements, and includes HVAC inspections and maintenance.
- Optimize fresh air ventilation by bringing in and circulating clean outdoor air indoors.
- Enhance air filtration and cleaning using the central HVAC system and in-room air cleaning devices.
- Engage the building community by communicating with building occupants to increase awareness, commitment, and participation.
Under these recommendation areas, EPA’s best practices guide lays out actions building owners and operators can implement. The guide offer a menu of improvements and includes quick steps that organizations can take right away as well as resources to help plan for longer-term investments and improvements.
Related Stories
| Sep 29, 2014
10 common deficiencies in aging healthcare facilities
VOA's Douglas King pinpoints the top issues that arise during healthcare facilities assessments, including missing fire/smoke dampers, out-of-place fire alarms, and poorly constructed doorways.
| Sep 23, 2014
Designing with Water: Report analyzes ways coastal cities can cope with flooding
The report contains 12 case studies of cities around the world that have applied advanced flood management techniques.
| Sep 18, 2014
OSHA announces new requirements for reporting deaths and severe injuries
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced a final rule requiring employers to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye.
| Sep 10, 2014
Perry named new director of OSHA’s Standards and Guidance Directorate
Bill Perry has been named new director of the OSHA’s Directorate of Standards and Guidance, effective Aug. 24, 2014.
| Sep 2, 2014
Micro-apartment concept can’t get traction in Boston suburb
Micro-apartments are gaining acceptance in nearby Boston and in places such as San Francisco and New York, but Weymouth, Mass., officials and neighbors were not receptive to a proposal for tiny dwellings this summer.
| Sep 2, 2014
Construction unions, housing activists press New York mayor on affordable apartment projects
A group of New York City construction unions have joined forces with affordable housing activists to pressure Mayor Bill de Blasio to require organized labor on construction of 80,000 lower-cost apartment units.
| Aug 27, 2014
Requirement for site safety inspectors hampering construction in New York City
New York City’s regulation that requires contractors to hire independent safety inspectors for job sites is holding up projects worth millions of dollars, contractors say.
| Aug 21, 2014
Performance-based zoning: U.S. cities starting to loosen zoning regulations
Driven by New Urbanism, more than two dozen communities in the U.S. have loosened zoning restrictions in recent years.
| Aug 14, 2014
Boards at odds over North Carolina county’s CM-at-Risk policy
Some local small contractors are not pleased with the school board’s CM-at-Risk policy that was instituted in 2007. The county’s board of commissioners has offered a sympathetic ear to their complaints
| Aug 14, 2014
CDC report highlights need for heat acclimatization to prevent worker deaths
CDC supports OSHA’s analysis suggesting that the primary risk factor for heat fatalities is the lack of acclimatization programs.
