The move is on to reopen the nation’s K-12 schools — if not this school year then by the fall, in most cases. The resulting challenge for facilities managers in meeting this goal is to ensure the effective operation of HVAC systems to protect the health and safety of air supplies in buildings.
To aid in the effort, UL and SafeTraces, a manufacturer of DNA-based technology, have launched a program for indoor air quality, ventilation and filtration verification and infection control for K-12 schools. UL and SafeTraces are addressing the coronavirus transmission risk with a program specifically to assess and mitigate health and safety risk in K-12 schools.
The program provides insight to help K-12 schools reopen safely by using UL's Healthy Buildings services, which enables building owners and operators to assess indoor environmental quality, and veriDART technology, a risk assessment tool for airborne pathogens, including coronaviruses. It is designed to help identify high-risk infection hotspots and transmission routes, assess ventilation and filtration efficacy, and inform remediations with a rigorous science-based, data-driven methodology.
Dan Hounsell is editor of Facility Maintenance Decisions.
