Documents ventilation 27 results

"During the rapid rise in COVID-19 illnesses and deaths globally, and notwithstanding recommended precautions, questions are voiced about routes of transmission for this pandemic disease. Inhaling small airborne droplets is probable as a third route of infection, in addition to more widely recognized transmission via larger respiratory droplets and direct contact with infected people or contaminated surfaces. While uncertainties remain regarding the relative contributions of the different transmission pathways, we argue that existing evidence is sufficiently strong to warrant engineering controls targeting airborne transmission as part of an overall strategy to limit infection risk indoors. Appropriate building engineering controls include sufficient and effective ventilation, possibly enhanced by particle filtration and air disinfection, avoiding air recirculation and avoiding overcrowding. Often, such measures can be easily implemented and without much cost, but if only they are recognised as significant in contributing to infection control goals. We believe that the use of engineering controls in public buildings, including hospitals, shops, offices, schools, kindergartens, libraries, restaurants, cruise ships, elevators, conference rooms or public transport, in parallel with effective application of other controls (including isolation and quarantine, social distancing and hand hygiene), would be an additional important measure globally to reduce the likelihood of transmission and thereby protect healthcare workers, patients and the general public."

"Rigid safe distancing rules are an oversimplification based on outdated science and experiences of past viruses, argue Nicholas R Jones and colleagues.
Physical distancing is an important part of measures to control covid-19, but exactly how far away and for how long contact is safe in different contexts is unclear. Rules that stipulate a single specific physical distance (1 or 2 metres) between individuals to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing covid-19, are based on an outdated, dichotomous notion of respiratory droplet size. ..."

"Dans un contexte de pandémie, l'un des moyens de lutter contre les risques de transmission d'un virus est d'accentuer le renouvellement de l'air des locaux de travail et d'éviter son recyclage. Or les dispositifs existants pour mesurer les apports d'air neuf peuvent être complexes et coûteux à mettre en œuvre. Des travaux de l'INRS ont permis de développer une méthode pour quantifier le taux de renouvellement de l'air d'un local et de déterminer si celui-ci est en adéquation avec le nombre d'occupants et leur activité. L'approche décrite dans cet article pourrait, au-delà de la prévention du risque biologique, améliorer significativement la qualité de l'air dans les locaux du secteur tertiaire."

"Following legal action in the 1990s, internal tobacco industry documents became public, allowing unprecedented insight into the industry's relationships with outside organizations. During the 1980s and 1990s, the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI), established by the Sheet Metal Workers International Association and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association, (SMACNA) received tobacco industry funding to establish an indoor air quality services program. But the arrangement also required NEMI to serve as an advocate for industry efforts to defeat indoor smoking bans by arguing that ventilation was a more appropriate solution to environmental tobacco smoke. Drawing on tobacco industry documents, this paper describes a striking example of the ethical compromises that accompanied NEMI's collaboration with the tobacco industry, highlighting the solicitation of tobacco industry financial support for a SMACNA indoor air quality manual in exchange for sanitizing references to the health impact of environmental tobacco smoke prior to publication."