WELL AP® Prep: Keeping People WELL During the COVID-19 Era | Green Building Training Program

 WELL AP® Prep: Keeping People WELL During the COVID-19 Era

8 Hour Training presented by Built Environment Plus

Most people spend up to 90 percent of their time in buildings – while the health of the building is highly critical, it is a component that was often overlooked. Now with the advent of COVID-19, our perspective on this component has changed: building designers and operators must re-examine how we navigate offices, restaurants, stores, schools, and residential common areas. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put out new guidelines for the health and safety of the indoor space. Fortunately, the WELL Building Standard® provides the knowledge necessary to make the health and well-being of building residents an even greater priority.

The WELL standard is an evidence-base verified rating system focused on operational policies, maintenance protocols, and the health of the occupants. WELL is grounded in the premise that buildings play a leading role in supporting the health and well-being of the residents.

This course covers the financial, societal, and environmental benefits of WELL certification. This course will explain the seven concepts of the WELL Building standard, strategies to achieve them, the health impacts they address, and summarize the certification process of the WELL Building Standard.

The overlap between the WELL Standard and COVID-19 mitigation strategies for buildings will also be discussed, especially in regards to the WELL Health-Safety Rating. This rating system is an evidence-based, third-party verified rating for all facility types, focused on operational policies, maintenance protocols, emergency plans and stakeholder education to address a post-COVID-19 environment now and broader health and safety-related issues into the future.

The WELL AP® Exam Prep Class will have nine sections over the course of one day. Upon completion of the class, students will be eligible to sit for the WELL AP exam.

The following core concepts will be covered:

  • Cleaning and Sanitation Procedures
  • Air and Water Quality Management
  • Emergency Preparedness Programs
  • Health Service Resources
  • Stakeholder Engagement and Communication
  • Health-Safety Rating and COVID-19 mitigation strategies for building design

Meet the Instructor

Steven Burke
Director of Sustainability | Consigli Construction Co., Inc.

Steven is the Director of Sustainability at Consigli Construction Co., Inc., a regional construction firm based in Massachusetts.

Steven has guided the sustainability process on over twenty million square feet of projects across many different building types and sizes, including but not limited to: k-12 schools, higher education facilities, mid-rise and high-rise residential, commercial interiors, retail interiors, and commercial office buildings. 

He has been a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Health Leaders Network, is a LEED and WELL Faculty member, a Fitwel Ambassador, and a Certified Passive House Consultant.

He has a Master of Science in Sustainability Management from Columbia University, and he blends business and science to specialize in sustainability, resiliency, and health and wellness strategies for the built environment.

Green Building Training Program Information

This course is now funded through the Commonwealth Workforce Training Fund’s Small Business Direct Access Program (SBDAP). If you are a small, Massachusetts-based business that employs 100 people or less, you and your employees may be eligible to take this training session for free! Learn more about this opportunity at our Green Building Training Program website.

** This course will be hosted virtually. All attendees, regardless of whether or not they are eligible for the Green Building Training Program (GBTP), must register for the course through our Eventbrite page. For GBTP participants, your company’s enrollment in the Commonwealth Workforce Training Fund’s Small Business Direct Access Program (SBDAP) must be verified before you can access the Zoom link – unverified participants will not be let into the meeting. **

How Sustainable Are COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies for Buildings?

A conclusion to our conversation series New Perspectives on Health & Well-being features a discussion between Dr. Joseph G. Allen (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) and the series’ building industry experts. 

Over eight weeks of early Tuesday morning conversations, industry experts presented an overview of a specific COVID-19 mitigation topic, through a sustainability lens. The conversations with attendees that followed addressed issues like what building owners are asking for, which solutions are proving most effective, and how these strategies measure up against various sustainability imperatives. In addition to the priority of human health through reduced viral transmission, we discussed the long-term impacts on health (like ozone and UV exposure), the environment (like GHG emissions from increased energy use), and the economy (capital as well as operational cost). 

Optimally, building industry professionals in practice look holistically at all aspects of impact when making decisions. So to close the conversation series, we are bringing back all of our industry expert presenters for a final 90-minute discussion. Dr. Allen will begin with an introductory 15-minute presentation to set the stage for over an hour of discussion with the previous presenters and the building engineering and design community at large. Please join us as we debate the merits of various COVID-19 mitigation strategies, their sustainability impacts, and suggestions for moving forward addressing health and sustainability in the built environment.

This Panel Will Feature…

Air Filtration: John Swift, Principal, Buro Happold Engineering

Fresh Air: Patrick Murphy, Director of Sustainable Design, Vanderweil Engineers

Humidity Control: Nora McCawley, Mechanical Engineer, Buro Happold Engineering

Pressurization: Paul Tsang, Director of Engineering, Jacobs

UV Light: Eric Edman, Senior Associate, BR+A Consulting Engineers

Air Monitoring: Kathleen Hetrick, Sr. Sustainability Engineer, Buro Happold Engineering

Antimicrobials: Monica Nakielski, Dir., Sustainability and Enviro. Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Cleaning PracticesTim Conway, Vice President Sustainability, Shaw Industries

Thank you to the DLR Group for sponsoring this event.

Registration

* If there is a financial hardship and you are interested in attending, please reach out to us at communications@builtenvironmentplus.org *

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Leading Health Organizations Recommend the Use of Hand Dryers

Written by Excel Dryer

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Excel Dryer sets the record straight: Hand dryers are hygienic, but misinformation persists

East Longmeadow, Mass. – The topic of hygiene has come to the forefront in mainstream media as reopening plans are introduced around the globe. While leading health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommend the use of hand dryers, misinformation about them remains online, and continues to be quoted and perpetuated. Leaders from Excel Dryer, manufacturer of XLERATOR® Hand Dryers, wish to deliver a message to educate the professionals, consultants and government officials who are creating reopening guidelines, and the general public, especially in times of COVID-19: Excel hand dryers are a safe, hygienic touchless solution and an effective way to achieve completely dry hands, a critical part of proper hand hygiene, the top defense against the spread of germs.

Kelly Reynolds, Ph.D., Professor and Department Chair at the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, offered an explanation as to the root of these misconceptions, stating that, “Consumers may only read [sensationalized] headlines which can influence public opinion toward biased or erroneous conclusions, [but] the fact is, the breadth of data available does not favor one hand drying method as being more hygienic or safer.”

Excel hand dryers provide a touchless hand drying solution to help prevent potential cross-contamination between restroom surfaces and wet hands. All dryers in Excel’s line are hygienic, but dryers with HEPA have been proven to add another level of protection. Viral efficiency testing conducted by the preeminent independent air media and filter testing company, LMS Technologies in April of 2020 found that XLERATOR®, XLERATOReco® and XLERATORsync® Hand Dryers with HEPA Filtration Systems remove 99.999 percent of viruses from the airstream. 

William Gagnon, vice president of marketing and sales at Excel Dryer, wishes to correct misinformation and biases about hand dryers. “Hand dryers are hygienic and have been used to properly dry hands for decades. In addition to top health organizations recommending their use, hand dryers also provide significant benefits over paper that are undisputable. For example, our recent test results prove XLERATOR hand dryers with HEPA Filtration Systems remove 99.999 percent of viruses from the airstream, something paper will never be able to do.”

Conversely, paper towels may not be as hygienic as the public believes. One independent study showed 17 species of bacteria on unused, recycled paper towels, including Bacillus, which can cause food poisoning. After their use, damp paper towels are a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria in and around trash receptacles and can be used to clog toilets and sinks creating a very unhygienic restroom environment. If the paper towels are out of stock, visitors cannot dry their hands at all, and wet hands have been shown to be 1,000 times more likely to transfer germs than dry hands.

Gagnon concluded, “I encourage members of the public and those individuals charged with the creation of guidelines, reopening plans or facilities operations, to dive deeper into news articles and hygiene studies rather than simply believing sensationalized, click-bait headlines born from biased results. Hand dryers are safe and hygienic. They dry hands completely, and are a top defense against the spread of germs.”


About Excel Dryer, Inc.

Excel Dryer has been manufacturing the finest American-made hand dryers for more than 50 years. The family-owned and -operated company revolutionized the industry with the invention of the patented XLERATOR® Hand Dryer that created the high-speed, energy-efficient hand dryer category and set a new standard for performance, reliability and customer satisfaction. Excel Dryer prides itself on offering the best customer service and making hygienic, cost-effective and sustainable products people can depend on. Available for distribution worldwide, Excel Dryer products can be purchased through an established network of sales representatives who call on more than 5,000 distributors globally. Learn more about Excel Dryer at exceldryer.com.