How do you know if your building is safe to reopen?
Do you have a documented Epidemic Operating Conditions in Place (ECiP) to open and maintain your building during the pandemic? Current industry recommendations are changing and there are simple solutions to ensure your building is safe for all.
The most important thing is to keep your building operating. If during the lockdown it required you to shut off your building operations, there are many things that need to be considered.
Here is a non-comprehensive list of questions to get you started in the right direction:
- Do you have an inventory of what systems have been mothballed? Do you have a system manual for all your equipment and is it current?
- Before the epidemic, were there any deficiencies with maintenance?
- How well was your building performing prior to the pandemic? If your building was performing poorly before the pandemic, chances are your building is not working hard to mitigate the spread of the virus.
- What systems do you need to bring back online immediately?
- What level of occupancy will the building need to satisfy? How many people are anticipated to return to the building?
- Are the controls systems operating correctly? Are the settings correct for today’s operating environment? Do we need to make changes based upon occupancy, work schedules, and indoor air quality? What new information do we have that could impact the control systems?
- Before the pandemic, was the outdoor rate set correctly? Should the outdoor rate change? Should filtration be increased? Should a UV light be installed to help kill germs?
- Before updating filters and making significant changes to the operations of the building, it is important to consider where the building systems can handle the changes and the implications for the operations of a building. Have a professional review your system and give you sound engineering advice.
A good ECiP plan will address these issues successfully and ensure you have a strong building reopening. The current industry best practice is to develop a business readiness plan for COVID-19 and any other health crises. DMA, through our commissioning services, can assist you in developing a solid business readiness plan to reopen your building and develop a Post Epidemic Operating Conditions in Place P-ECiP.