Indoor Environmental Quality in Non Domestic Buildings
BS 40102-1:2023 is applicable to non-domestic buildings, including existing building stock. It can be used, along with other standards and design guidance, in existing buildings, renovations and new build developments for target setting, evaluation and assessment of health and well-being in buildings. It covers a good practice approach to the evaluation and assessment of the following factors:
a) air quality;
b) light quality;
c) thermal comfort; and
d) acoustic and soundscape quality.
Air quality remains the most important tool to combat the next pandemic.
for those who work in or run offices, contact centres
Duty holders continue to have obligations to comply with health and safety at work legislation and requirements to manage and control workplace risks, including protecting workers and others from the risk of COVID-19 infection.
The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of a new continuous cough or a high temperature or a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia).
Public Health England, updated 23 July 2020
The transmission of COVID-19 is thought to occur mainly through respiratory droplets generated by coughing and sneezing, and through contact with contaminated surfaces. The predominant modes of transmission are assumed to be droplet and contact.
Advice for members of the public and professional users
The limits of testing kits
Even if a test has a CE mark, it may have limitations.
For example, the link between the presence of antibodies and immunity is not proven, and some tests are not specific for COVID-19 antibodies. These two facts mean that a positive test result for antibodies does not necessarily mean that the person being tested is immune to COVID-19.
How testing kits are regulated
The MHRA is the designated competent authority that administers and enforces the law on medical devices in the UK. It has a range of investigatory and enforcement powers to ensure their safety and quality.
An in vitro diagnostic medical device (IVD) includes tests performed on human samples (for example, blood, tissues, saliva, urine) for a medical purpose. As with all medical devices, manufacturers must place the CE mark on an IVD before it can be placed on the UK market.
CE marks are not issued by the MHRA. They are granted by an independent certification body, called a Notified Body authorised by the MHRA to issue them. These notified bodies are overseen by the MHRA.
The author urges extreme caution when considering the use of commercial testing service currently available for buildings.
The main types of non-contact thermometers are non-contact infrared thermometers, tympanic thermometers, and thermal scanners. Non-contact infrared thermometers are held three to 15 cm away from the patient and typically measure temperature on the forehead or temple. Tympanic thermometers measure the thermal radiation from the tympanic membrane and within the ear canal. Handheld thermal scanners can be used to take a person’s temperature from a greater distance than other non-contact thermometers, which may make them a good candidate for use in mass screening situations. The optimal cut-off temperature for determining fever differs for each device. However, not everyone who has an infection or is infectious will have a fever. Additionally, fevers can be lowered by using antipyretic medications.
KEY FINDINGS
Evidence retrieved from sixteen non-randomized studies and four systematic reviews (SRs) supports the accuracy of tympanic thermometers and, more cautiously, of thermal scanners. Evidence for the accuracy of infrared skin thermometers is equivocal and requires more research. However, the generalizability of the evidence found is questionable.
Skin temperature measurement using an infrared thermometer on patients who have been exposed to cold.
Determination of fever from the body parts that had been exposed to cold environmental conditions may cause contradictory results if taken while the child is still chilled from exposure to the cold. For accuracy, children should be acclimated to the indoor temperature before taking body temperature readings. Acclimation takes at least 10 min after coming in from cold weather outside.
Would it be appropriate to use temperature checks or thermal cameras on site, as part of testing or ongoing monitoring of staff? (Information Commissioner's Office)
When considering the use of more intrusive technologies, especially for capturing health information, you need to give specific thought to the purpose and context of its use and be able to make the case for using it. Any monitoring of employees needs to be necessary and proportionate, and in keeping with their reasonable expectations. Again, transparency is key.
You should also think about whether you can achieve the same results through other, less privacy intrusive means. If so, then the monitoring may not be considered proportionate.
The Surveillance Camera Commissioner (SCC) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have worked together to update the SCC DPIA template, which is specific to surveillance systems. This will assist your thinking before considering the use of thermal cameras or other surveillance.
The author suggests that a general practice to body temperature screening is a viable precautionary measure with the understanding of the above scientific limitations. The data provides trend and can be used as an early warning to stakeholders to make management decisions.
To be effective, face masks must be worn correctly, changed frequently, removed properly, disposed of safely and used in combination with good universal hygiene behaviour. Research shows that compliance with these recommended behaviours reduces over time when wearing face masks for prolonged periods, such as in the community. Therefore, PHE does not advise masks in public places and for those working in supermarkets, waste collection, schools and similar settings.
Further guidance dated 11 May stated "If you can, wear a face covering when in an enclosed space where social distancing isn’t possible, or when you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet. This is most relevant for short periods indoors in crowded areas, for example, on public transport or in some shops."
Face coverings do not need to be worn in the workplace but employers should support their workers if they choose to wear one. Wearing a face covering is optional and is not required by law, including in the workplace. If you choose to wear one, it is important to use face coverings properly and wash your hands before putting them on and taking them off (25 May 2020).
Masks should be used as part of a comprehensive strategy of measures to suppress transmission and save lives; the use of a mask alone is not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection against COVID-19. You should also maintain a minimum physical distance of at least 1 metre from others, frequently clean your hands and avoid touching your face and mask.
Non-medical, fabric masks are being used by many people in public areas, but there has been limited evidence on their effectiveness and WHO does not recommend their widespread use among the public for control of COVID-19. However, for areas of widespread transmission, with limited capacity for implementing control measures and especially in settings where physical distancing of at least 1 metre is not possible – such as on public transport, in shops or in other confined or crowded environments – WHO advises governments to encourage the general public to use non-medical fabric masks.
In COVID-19 Secure guidance, people are also encouraged to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces where there are people they do not normally meet.
The author suggests that a general practice of wearing mask is a viable precautionary measure with the understanding of the above limitations. On 28 April the Scottish government began recommending people cover their faces while in enclosed public spaces such as shops or public transport. On Friday 1 May Robert Jenrick, communities minister, told the BBC the wearing of face masks in public might give people the confidence to return to daily life.
Objective: To reduce risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking preventative measures, in order of priority.
Employers have a duty to reduce workplace risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking preventative measures. Employers must work with any other employers or contractors sharing the workplace so that everybody's health and safety is protected. In the context of COVID-19 this means protecting the health and safety of your workers and visitors by working through these steps in order:
Ensuring both workers and visitors who feel unwell stay at home and do not attend the premise.
In every workplace, increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning.
Businesses and workplaces should make every reasonable effort to enable working from home as a first option. Where working from home is not possible, workplaces should make every reasonable effort to comply with the social distancing guidelines set out by the government (2m, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable, is acceptable. You should consider and set out the mitigations you will introduce in your risk assessments).
Where it is not possible to comply with the social distancing guidelines, workplaces should consider whether an activity can be redesigned to maintain a 2m distance.
Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.
Further mitigating actions include:
You should ensure that steps are taken to avoid people needing to unduly raise their voices to each other. This includes, but is not limited to, refraining from playing music or broadcasts that may encourage shouting, including if played at a volume that makes normal conversation difficult. This is because of the potential for increased risk of transmission, particularly from aerosol transmission.
Finally, if people must work face-to-face for a sustained period with more than a small group of fixed partners, then you will need to assess whether the activity can safely go ahead. No one is obliged to work in an unsafe work environment.
In your assessment you should have particular regard to whether the people doing the work are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
Guidance for people who work in or run offices ...
What’s changed
Pages last reviewed: 3 March 2021
SAGE EMG paper November 2020
Strategies to Improve Ventilation
Firstly, the facilities lead should respond to government guidance on working safely during COVID-19 by carrying out a risk assessment to determine the workspace capacity for people returning and how best to keep people safe. This risk assessment should be done in consultation with workers or unions.
Employers have a legal responsibility to do everything reasonably practicable to minimise health and safety risks to their workers, while recognising that it is not possible to completely eliminate the risk of COVID-19. Consider also the capability and capacity of each individual to return to the workplace, including their transport requirements, and the Government’s safer travel guidance.
The risk assessment is a key tool to review the possible experiences and activities within the workspace to understand and identify potential hazards and to assess the risk of them occurring, so that mitigation measures can be put in place; it will therefore help you define not just how many can return, but how to manage this safely.
Social distancing requirements will likely mean that the number who can return to the workplace is dramatically reduced. To determine what the operational space is, you will have to consider not just the volume of space, but also factors such as access points and lifts, optimising flows and minimising bottlenecks.
Once you know how many people you can accommodate, you need to consider who needs to be physically in the workplace and who does not. This will help to prioritise and organise the space into an attractive environment so that it can accommodate the right activities. You should consider the need for meeting rooms, the potential removal of desks, the addition of screens (transparent where possible to promote connectivity). Continuing the practice of ‘hot-desking’ will require regular and thorough cleaning of the workstation area, but this may enable better social distancing and be more hygienic than allocating desks to individuals. Where possible provide modular and flexible solutions so that people have different options to suit their needs.
In addition to planning the usual work space, based on an understanding of which activities need to take place and how it is best organised within the building fabric, you will also need to consider the needs of the many people, possibly a majority, who will continue to work remotely. They will need to be supported to create workspaces at home that are conducive to productive working. Key considerations for home workers include how to support them with the right hardware, including chairs and IT, as well as navigating a new working dynamic including breaks and concentration techniques.
Most workplace strategies will not settle for a binary choice of office or home working, rather they will provide additional options of remote working and ongoing flexibility about how and when work is done. Giving control to individuals over how and when they work, as well as providing them with what they will need to do that, allows them to balance their work life demands, minimising stress and anxiety, benefitting all.
Whatever measures or adjustments that you put in place must avoid putting disabled workers at a disadvantage, take account of your duties under equality legislation, and be mindful of the particular needs of any groups or individuals whose protected characteristics might expose them to different degrees of risks.
The most effective workplace strategy will be informed by insight – you need to understand concerns about likely workplace scenarios to best identify and accommodate an optimal balance between individual and organisational needs.
Engagement is a fundamental part of any workplace strategy, including two-way communication and transparency about the implementation of practical measures, such as cleaning and distancing regimes, which will be top of mind for people returning to the office. Not everyone is going to want to return to the workplace and not everyone’s home situation may allow this either.
FMs should collaborate with HR colleagues to survey employees to understand their needs and key concerns. Not only will this help to decide what to prioritise in your space management, but what you can do better to support people in making efficient home working spaces while at the same time ensuring people’s wellbeing and connectivity. Good practice would see a regular survey taking place, especially in larger organisations to help keep track of teams and, for example, to compare different approaches.
Along with employee engagement, open and transparent communications about what the business is doing will be important to retain trust in the organisation – internally and externally. In addition, the Government expects every employer with over 50 workers to publish their COVID-19 risk assessment on their website. Furthermore, the ongoing review of best practice, alongside the engagement and communication, will demonstrate a commitment to creating a safe and healthy workplace.
If you manage a workplace in a building with multiple occupiers, you will also need to engage and coordinate with the different stakeholders so that everybody's health and safety is protected.
In addition to a people survey, analysis of space utilisation and general building use should inform the post COVID-19 occupancy footprint and other approaches, including cleaning protocols as the biggest concerns for people around returning to the workplace are maintaining social distancing and hygiene.
Increasing cleaning operations during the day and in high traffic areas will help maintain a visible presence. Measures such as placing sufficient sanitiser throughout the workplace, clear displays of health and safety information, and regular communication on measures being taken throughout the building so that occupants can see the efforts of the organisation to keep them safe are all important actions in promoting trust and confidence in safety.
The risk assessment should inform employers about the need for any appropriate PPE. Staggered arrival and departure routines should be considered as lifts (and stairs) will not be able to accommodate as many people at the same time. Visible and audible signalling should be used to indicate safe zones both in and outside the lifts, and the wider workspace, so that social distancing can be maintained consistently throughout. Employers should also consider their policies on testing people, and whether in addition to government testing where needed, an antigen test would be offered to people in the organisation.
In addition to providing a space-based response to the social distancing challenge, workplace and facilities managers will need to ensure ongoing compliance with health and safety to ensure the building is a genuinely safe workplace: PPM, lift safety checks, water systems checks, deep cleans, fire system checks, security, and so on, should all be reviewed well in advance of the return so they can be planned properly. Ideally, at least three to four weeks – possibly longer for multi-occupied buildings - should be set aside for this as the availability of suppliers for such checks might be strained both by demand as well as by potential sickness. The HSE will expect a building to be 100% compliant before (re-)occupation.
The section ‘Preparing buildings for re-use’ below includes a variety of prompts to consider. More information on testing eligibility and processes to follow can be found in the testing section below.
Now is the time to demonstrate leadership in providing and implementing the solutions that workplaces need. While you are likely to already be working closely together with IT and HR to provide solutions you will need to work with other key decision-making functions such as communications and finance teams to enact your workplace strategy efficiently.
The initial return to work is only the first phase in a long transition to a ‘new normal’. It is therefore important to remain flexible in your planning so that you can adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. You should ensure solid business continuity plans remain up-to-date to manage a sudden return to home-working in case of a second lockdown.
Alongside this mid-term planning, you should start considering the long-term implications for your office space footprint alongside other workplace adaptations that will help to focus minds on the organisation’s long-term objectives. It is important that organisations do not plan to revert to business as usual without taking on board learnings from how they managed the change.
Furthermore, there is major opportunity to use this rethinking to return to a better workplace, offering greater flexibility and choice while working towards more ambitious sustainability goals. COVID-19 has taught us that sustainability has not disappeared off the agenda – if anything, quite the opposite. It is not only necessary, it is also possible to make a difference.
Further detailed advice is provided by CIBSE
RICS Beyond COVID-19: Reopening Guides
The current situation is fast changing and requires constant monitoring and assessment, as plans are made for the reopening of a building. Before making a decision on reopening a building, it is advisable to: • have a clear overview of the current situation, evaluate any sources of information and follow official recommendations, as well as having asset objectives based on current guidance • plan based on current information and ‘what if’ scenarios • communicate to relevant stakeholders about the current situation and any planned actions • implement plans to reach the overall objectives and update them regularly without being afraid to make changes if the situation requires it.
Symptoms
The most important symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of any of the following:
For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. However, if you have any of the symptoms above you must stay at home and arrange to have a test to see if you have COVID-19 – go to testing to arrange.
What do we mean by possible or confirmed coronavirus infection (COVID-19)?
Main messages
If you have symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), however mild, OR you have received a positive coronavirus (COVID-19) test result, the clear medical advice is to immediately self-isolate at home for at least 7 days from when your symptoms started. Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. You should arrange to have a test to see if you have COVID-19 – go to testing to arrange.
Consider alerting people who you do not live with and have had close contact within the last 48 hours to let them know you have symptoms of coronavirus COVID-19.
Following a positive test result, you will receive a request by text, email or phone to log into the NHS Test and Trace service website and provide information about recent close contacts
After 7 days, or longer, if you still have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell/taste, you must continue to self-isolate until you feel better.
You do not need to self-isolate after 7 days if you only have a cough or loss of sense of smell or taste, as these symptoms can last for several weeks after the infection has gone. See the ending isolation section below for more information.
If you live with others and you are the first in the household to have symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), then you must stay at home for at least 7 days. All other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the household became ill. See the explanatory diagram.
Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection that people in your household could pass on to others in the community.
If anyone else in the household starts displaying symptoms, they must stay at home for at least 7 days from when their symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in their original 14-day isolation period. The ending isolation section below has more information, and see the explanatory diagram.
If you have symptoms, you should stay as far away from other members of your household as possible. It is especially important to stay away from anyone who is clinically vulnerable or clinically extremely vulnerable with whom you continue to share a household.
Reduce the spread of infection in your home by washing your hands regularly for 20 seconds using soap and water, or use hand sanitiser, and cover coughs and sneezes.
If you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home, or your condition gets worse, or your symptoms do not get better after 7 days, then use the NHS 111 online coronavirus (COVID-19) service. If you do not have internet access, call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.
If you develop new coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms at any point after ending your first period of isolation (self or household) then you must follow the same guidance on self-isolation again. The section below (After ending self-isolation and/or household-isolation) has further information.
Who is this guidance for?
This guidance is intended for:
You need to get the test done in the first 5 days of having symptoms.
Apply by pressing "Start now" on the weblink below.
The employer referral portal allows employers to refer essential workers who are self-isolating either because they or member(s) of their household have coronavirus symptoms, for testing.
It is a secure portal for employers to use to upload the full list of names and contact details of self-isolating essential workers.
If referred through this portal, essential workers will receive a text message with a unique invitation code to book a test for themselves (if symptomatic) or their symptomatic household member(s) at a regional testing site.
In order to obtain a login, employers of essential workers should email portalservicedesk@dhsc.gov.uk with:
Once employer details have been verified, 2 login credentials will be issued for the employer referral portal.
The test involves taking a swab of the nose and the back of the throat, which can be done by the person themselves (self-administered) or by someone else (assisted).
There are 2 types of test kits delivered to care homes:
The test kits look similar and test for whether someone currently has coronavirus in the same way. You will be told which test kits you will be using when you receive confirmation of your delivery. All of these kits are throat and nose swab tests and will tell a person whether they had coronavirus at the time the test took place. They cannot tell a person if they have had coronavirus in the past.
RICS advice on service charges during the COVID-19 pandemic
The current position places a huge burden on all parties − occupiers, owners and managing agents − and RICS encourage all parties to work together on a case-by-case basis to recognise these challenges and create an approach that is proportionate and appropriate for each set of unique circumstances.
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