Ventilation for industrial settings during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Jonathan Hale, MPA
On today’s episode of IAQradio, Jonathan Hale, MPH discussed a new ACGIH White Paper called Ventilation for Industrial Settings during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Nuggets mined from today’s episode:
After being a high school science teacher, Johnathan went to work for the EPA as a permit engineer where he did a lot of environmental testing. He then worked for Douglas Batteries where he was responsible for the health and safety of 500 workers. He wanted to design systems and got involved with the North Carolina Ventilation Conference and has taught ventilation courses at colleges and universities including Johns Hopkins and Michigan State. Now, Jonathan fixes broken ventilation systems and consults on minimizing risks to employees.
Jonathan discusses the white paper with IAQradio’s hosts and audience: Ventilation for Industrial Settings during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A MUST download: https://www.acgih.org/news/2020/08/18/acgih-sup-reg-sup-covid-19-white-paper—complimentary-access
The current ACGIH ventilation manual (30th edition) is recognized and used globally. The next revision will include COVID-19 recommendations. The manual is about engineering controls. Air principles are the same for all engineers.
Turbulent air delivered through high velocity grilles creates temperature uniformity which is the antithesis of what you want if you are dealing with COVID-19.
Hierarchy of control- Elimination (of hazard), Substitution (replace hazard), Engineering controls (e.g. isolation of hazard), Administrative controls (e.g. change behavior pattern), PPE (protect workers). Industrial hygienists and environmental engineers don’t like masks, they want fitted respirators.
Ventilation engineers want to segregate unwanted substances from the other air.
Paint spray booth provides good worker protection. While a working line in a meat packing plant does not. Risks should be minimized at every opportunity and given point. Greater air turnover rates use more energy.
Comments
Jon has a way of making complex concepts easy to understand. Typical HVAC systems intentionally cause turbulence which is not desirable when trying to control an airborne virus. Thanks Jon!