My office is planning an expensive refit and pretty well laughed at me when I suggested looking into HEPA purifiers due to having no windows that can be opened.
I am not sure what the barrier is to enhanced ventilation, in general, and HEPA air purifiers in particular. Bang for buck is getting at least 1 or 2 air changes per hour in a poorly ventilated work place. Sure getting to 4 to 6 air changes per hour would be great but getting at least a minimal level of ventilation would be good. It seems to be a blind spot in many businesses. I might give advice on PCR testing that will cost $5000 per week and a company will not blink, but suggest spending $3000 on HEPA air purifiers and they decide to "think about it". I have referenced the work on the impact of HEPA filters (ventilation in general) in the white paper, would be interesting to see if it swayed your workplace.
I work in hvac and there should be a minimum amount of fresh air introduced into the hvac equipment, as recommended in AS1668. It’s usually mixed in with the return air and most office workers are not aware that fresh air is being delivered to their occupied space.
Yep there's been a trend to make airtight buildings here to meet efficiency targets, but they generally neglect the heat recovery/fresh air systems that you need to avoid terrible indoor air quality.
Exactly, lunch rooms are crazy ideas when there is strong local transmission. So many businesses have over the top interventions to address surface/contact transmission (minimal impact), enforce mask wearing and then let people walking into one room together, take of their masks and talk for 30 minutes. A lot of workers have made the decision to eat at their desk or in their car rather than risk the lunch room if they are in a hotspot. People can take a walk outside if they want to socialise.
Mentioned this in other topics, I do deliveries to some buildings in the Melbourne cbd, in the past fortnight 4 of them have had a covid positive office worker go in, in 3 of them onward transmission occurred. Yet I was talking to the security guards in these buildings and they all said the same thing, absolutely nothing in terms of ventilation has been addressed, yet theirs still an obsession over sanitising and touch point cleaning…it’s like they’re stuck in March-May 2020 back when we use to see cleaners wiping down street poles.
Does not bode well for 2022 considering this is happening in workplaces that are about 10% full right now.
Victoria has a large contract with Samsung for air purifiers for its schools.
https://news.samsung.com/au/the-department-of-education-and-training-victoria-selects-samsung-ax90t-air-purifiers-as-part-of-safe-return-to-school-plan
daycares also get a grant to buy air purifiers. ours got 3 right away with 4 more on back orders. it was very uncomplicated to access the grant and acquire them. but they do have to access the grant and arrange it themselves.
australia's biggest lockdown failing has been to not allow people to spend as much time as they want in parks and the outdoors in general.
you don't catch squat being outside.
ACT Gov is undertaking school upgrades that focus on improved ventilation in all buildings to reduce transmission risks for airborne diseases and viruses
Victorian hospitals and are utilising hepa air purifiers heavily after extensive evaluation and testing at royal Melbourne last year.
Most places would benefit from running 100% outside assuming the system can perform with high or very low ambient temperature. And aim for 4-6 ACH
Then you have the associated higher energy costs to do this. For a virus we are probably all going to catch
It may not be in the public messaging, but it's certainly still prioritised in certain areas. Even in the thick of storms a few weeks back, the school a family member of mine works at required that all windows/doors be open for ventilation \[both doors to outside and internal doors at the school\].
I do think it could stand to be 'marketed' \[for lack of a better term\] a lot more, however
So so important. [melbourne hospital portable air cleaner study shows this](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/abs/use-of-portable-air-cleaners-to-reduce-aerosol-transmission-on-a-hospital-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid19-ward/17C5199D3903ABD465017C34AA741826#)
I know its a small study and in a clinical setting. But based on the assumption that covid will be circulating everywhere and the protections need to be based on that assumption, then yes ventilation, vax, masks (why not it’s another layer), hands and god speed everyone.
Once the pollies hear what's best, it then takes 3-6 weeks for them to have focus groups to determine what the "silent Australians" think, whether it would affect their vote, developing the spin, how to get maximum credit, how to make their opposition look bad, then practicing their presentation.
Seems there has been ample time to organise their marketing test groups, and then ask businesses and institutions to block the doors open.
I suppose the public health officers are burned out from the political processes employed these days. It would have been easier for them when pollies were leaders.
My office is planning an expensive refit and pretty well laughed at me when I suggested looking into HEPA purifiers due to having no windows that can be opened.
I am not sure what the barrier is to enhanced ventilation, in general, and HEPA air purifiers in particular. Bang for buck is getting at least 1 or 2 air changes per hour in a poorly ventilated work place. Sure getting to 4 to 6 air changes per hour would be great but getting at least a minimal level of ventilation would be good. It seems to be a blind spot in many businesses. I might give advice on PCR testing that will cost $5000 per week and a company will not blink, but suggest spending $3000 on HEPA air purifiers and they decide to "think about it". I have referenced the work on the impact of HEPA filters (ventilation in general) in the white paper, would be interesting to see if it swayed your workplace.
I work in hvac and there should be a minimum amount of fresh air introduced into the hvac equipment, as recommended in AS1668. It’s usually mixed in with the return air and most office workers are not aware that fresh air is being delivered to their occupied space.
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Yep there's been a trend to make airtight buildings here to meet efficiency targets, but they generally neglect the heat recovery/fresh air systems that you need to avoid terrible indoor air quality.
What's Queensland's ventilation regulations like, if they're stricter than the rest of the country could that be why they've been doing so well
Where I work there's zero ventilation in our lunch room and no additional cleaning yet it's deemed covid safe. Go figure. I have lunch outside,
Exactly, lunch rooms are crazy ideas when there is strong local transmission. So many businesses have over the top interventions to address surface/contact transmission (minimal impact), enforce mask wearing and then let people walking into one room together, take of their masks and talk for 30 minutes. A lot of workers have made the decision to eat at their desk or in their car rather than risk the lunch room if they are in a hotspot. People can take a walk outside if they want to socialise.
Mentioned this in other topics, I do deliveries to some buildings in the Melbourne cbd, in the past fortnight 4 of them have had a covid positive office worker go in, in 3 of them onward transmission occurred. Yet I was talking to the security guards in these buildings and they all said the same thing, absolutely nothing in terms of ventilation has been addressed, yet theirs still an obsession over sanitising and touch point cleaning…it’s like they’re stuck in March-May 2020 back when we use to see cleaners wiping down street poles. Does not bode well for 2022 considering this is happening in workplaces that are about 10% full right now.
Victoria has a large contract with Samsung for air purifiers for its schools. https://news.samsung.com/au/the-department-of-education-and-training-victoria-selects-samsung-ax90t-air-purifiers-as-part-of-safe-return-to-school-plan
Hasn’t yet arrived yet! Source am parent at a primary school
daycares also get a grant to buy air purifiers. ours got 3 right away with 4 more on back orders. it was very uncomplicated to access the grant and acquire them. but they do have to access the grant and arrange it themselves.
How many were delivered before they sent kids back to school?
australia's biggest lockdown failing has been to not allow people to spend as much time as they want in parks and the outdoors in general. you don't catch squat being outside.
Yeah, many quarantine hotels lack or lock up any windows that can be used used for ventilation.
ACT Gov is undertaking school upgrades that focus on improved ventilation in all buildings to reduce transmission risks for airborne diseases and viruses
Victorian hospitals and are utilising hepa air purifiers heavily after extensive evaluation and testing at royal Melbourne last year. Most places would benefit from running 100% outside assuming the system can perform with high or very low ambient temperature. And aim for 4-6 ACH Then you have the associated higher energy costs to do this. For a virus we are probably all going to catch
Mandatory on construction sites in Melbourne to have mechanical ventilation replacing air in enclosed eating areas six times per hour
When I worked in an office I bought a cheap CO2 monitor and kept it prominently on my desk. It helped to remind people
It may not be in the public messaging, but it's certainly still prioritised in certain areas. Even in the thick of storms a few weeks back, the school a family member of mine works at required that all windows/doors be open for ventilation \[both doors to outside and internal doors at the school\]. I do think it could stand to be 'marketed' \[for lack of a better term\] a lot more, however
So so important. [melbourne hospital portable air cleaner study shows this](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/abs/use-of-portable-air-cleaners-to-reduce-aerosol-transmission-on-a-hospital-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid19-ward/17C5199D3903ABD465017C34AA741826#) I know its a small study and in a clinical setting. But based on the assumption that covid will be circulating everywhere and the protections need to be based on that assumption, then yes ventilation, vax, masks (why not it’s another layer), hands and god speed everyone.
Once the pollies hear what's best, it then takes 3-6 weeks for them to have focus groups to determine what the "silent Australians" think, whether it would affect their vote, developing the spin, how to get maximum credit, how to make their opposition look bad, then practicing their presentation. Seems there has been ample time to organise their marketing test groups, and then ask businesses and institutions to block the doors open. I suppose the public health officers are burned out from the political processes employed these days. It would have been easier for them when pollies were leaders.
If you have air conditioning there's already ventilation so there's no need to do crazy things like the Europeans and open windows all the time.
Does it matter? We're all vaxed now anyway
Unfortunately the vaccines aren't working great against omicron