HSE Provides Updated Advice on Ventilation During COVID
The Health and Safety Executive has expanded its advice for employers to provide adequate ventilation in their workplaces during the pandemic. This guidance is...
Read Full ArticleA building intelligence specialist is warning that there is an HVAC legislation loophole within hotels which may facilitate the further spread of COVID within quarantine hotels.
New rules mean that British people returning from 33 countries will have to quarantine in hotels, a technique already in use across Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Currently, there is no legislation that governs the state of the internal air quality and the management of HVAC plant in hotels. This reveals a gap in the fight to make hotels COVID-secure, compounded by the fact that many hotel rooms do not have easily openable windows, which makes it hard to introduce sufficient quantities of fresh air.
Horizon Controls, the building intelligence architects, is also concerned that poorly maintained HVAC can be a facilitator for COVID flow around a building and if so, does this mean quarantined hotels become incubators for the disease.
“We’ve got all these contacts in other countries that have already rolled this out for some time. They could offer some really valuable support and we’re just simply kept in the dark.”
–Rob Paterson
CEO, Best Western Hotels UK
As reported by BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, hotel chains are at a loss as to when mandatory quarantine for people travelling into the UK will begin.
The CEO of chain Best Western Hotels UK, Rob Paterson, told the BBC that the industry hasn’t received any clear guidelines or even a start date for the policy. He described the lack of communication:
“We’ve offered that help, we’ve got a lot of experience with quarantine, in managing COVID-positive environments through the project we did with the NHS.
“We’ve got all these contacts in other countries that have already rolled this out for some time. They could offer some really valuable support and we’re just simply kept in the dark.”
Horizon Controls advises that there are a number of ways hotel groups and hoteliers can ensure their hotels are COVID secure, these include:
Picture: a photograph of a bed in a hotel room
Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 04 February 2021
The Health and Safety Executive has expanded its advice for employers to provide adequate ventilation in their workplaces during the pandemic. This guidance is...
Read Full ArticleBiojet, from CPA Engineered Solutions, is a high volume air cleaning device that claims to deactivate up to 99.99 per cent of viruses (including coronavirus), mould and...
Read Full ArticleVentilation measures are considered the most vital engineering mechanisms in infection control within buildings. Research from REHA and CIBSE shows that adequate...
Read Full ArticleAs the capital moves to Tier 3 lockdown restrictions, the 100 Club in Central London has been approved as a test site for a new COVID-secure HVAC system. The Pathogen...
Read Full ArticleA British firm has developed a new system designed to help buildings with air management systems make their air supply secure against airborne pathogens. As COVID-19...
Read Full ArticleWhen schools re-open fully in September, only very basic indoor air quality precautions will be taken due to tight budget constraints, according to BESA. This is...
Read Full ArticleEvaluating ventilation systems before pubs reopen on 4 July is one of the first steps to take before reopening, as laid out in the government’s new guidance. In...
Read Full ArticleFor FMs concerned about in indoor air quality and the toxins that go into their buildings, Vern Klein explains how the latest specialist HVAC cleaning chemicals are both...
Read Full ArticleGiles Fuchs, CEO at Office Space in Town, reacts to Boris Johnson’s latest roadmap out of lockdown in England, and predicts what this will mean for the return to...
Read Full ArticleZoom has recently launched a selection of new features, to support hybrid workforces and help businesses re-enter the office safely. Video calling has been a lifeline...
Read Full Article