Developing Effective Guidelines for Implementing Mitigation Installation Measures to Control Airborne Infections

Abstract

Since the global COVID-19 pandemic, the risks related to indoor exposure to airborne diseases have been highlighted. There is strong evidence that adequate ventilation and/or application of certain types of air cleaning technologies help to keep building occupants (relatively) safe. Nevertheless, in practice, offices, classrooms, nursing homes, etc., still often are not ventilated and/or not equipped with the right kind of HVAC technology to keep infection risks at a reasonable level. A qualitative study explored the challenges that Dutch building owners, facility managers and installation engineers face in practice when operating and (re)designing building installations with virus exposure (coronavirus, influenza, measles, etc.) in mind. Hence, four interactive workshops with different types of stakeholders were organised, involving HVAC technicians, manufacturers, and end-users. The findings show that the majority of participants emphasised not only a lack of clear guidelines and adequate information about ventilation and air cleaning but also a lack of performance-based specifications and concrete advice on how to achieve “airborne infection-safe” indoor environments. Moreover, several stakeholders emphasised the need to raise awareness further amongst decision-makers and building occupants towards airborne infectious diseases and mitigation strategies. Based on the workshop outcomes, concrete advice was formulated (partly presented in terms of infographics), aimed at different kinds of target groups, on how to introduce mitigating building installation measures in an effective way.