The ANSI Federation and standardization community are stepping up with guidance, resources, and initiatives to support public health, safety, and infrastructure during the COVID-19 outbreak. ANSI is monitoring, sharing, and promoting appropriate news to highlight these efforts. Suggestions for news items may be submitted to [email protected]. All submissions are published at ANSI's discretion.
ASHRAE Launches Free Webinars Focused on Building Reopening
The ASHRAE Learning Institute (ALI) has announced that it will offer three free webinars, in addition to a detailed course targeted to the European and Middle East regions, focused on mitigating potential health risks during reopening of buildings closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The remainder of the series will feature sessions on:
"As buildings begin to reopen after the COVID-19 closures, it's important to make sure that building readiness plans are in place for the safe and efficient operation of HVAC systems," said 2019-20 ASHRAE President Darryl K. Boyce, P.Eng. "These free online training opportunities will provide strategies to ensure a safe and healthy indoor environment for building occupants."
Access the webinars via ashrae.org/onlinecourses.
ASIS Offers Disease Outbreak Security Resources
ASIS International offers various tips and need-to know information in a series of articles on topics including balancing mitigation measures during reopening at a furniture retailer to measuring emergency planning and leadership against the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the most recent article, "How to Protect Company Data When Laying Off Remote Workers."
A recent podcast entitled, "Leading During COVID-19: Team Resilience and Decision Fatigue," is also available, and covers how to build team resilience during times of crisisparticularly during the current pandemic.
Access ASIS and global resources on ASIS resource webpage.
The Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) Issues Guidelines for Safely Interacting with Customers and Business
ECIA's Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) has released a document with guidelines on critical work environment issues such as how to reduce face-to-face interactions, examples of remote working tools to become more productive, and a list of safety precautions for when face-to-face meetings are necessary and appropriate.
"The issues involved with restarting in-person business meetings are significant and changing daily," noted Don Elario, ECIA's vice president of industry practices. "We want to stay close to these important interactions and assist the channel for selling components to get back to business safely. Our SME group will review this topic again in July and revise the document if needed based on how things are progressing."
Additionally, new ECIA podcast features chief analyst Dale Ford interviewing Tom Runiewicz of IHS Market on how soon the global economy may recover from the pandemic.
Access the guidelines and podcast on ECIA's website.
Plastics Industry Association Launches Guidelines for Reopening America
On its COVID-19 resources webpage, the Plastics Industry Association features Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, with state-by-state specific plans, and details how the plastics industry is supporting patients and healthcare workers to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses.
"Our members are making components for critical care machines, disposable medical items, and single-use packaging for treatments and food. Resin manufacturers are churning out material. Companies have added shifts or switched production lines to supply high demand for personal protective equipment and more. Stories of innovation, hard work and charity are countless," according to the company.
See more on the Plastics Industry Association webpage.
U.S. Green Building Council Affiliate Arc Releases Tools and Analytics for Reentry of Buildings
Arc,an affiliate of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has launchedArc-Reentry, which provides a set of resources to help facility managers and companies as they work to put together re-entry plans for their buildings and spaces.
"Arc Re-Entry is a set of tools that can be used to document and benchmark infection-control policies and procedures, collect and analyze related occupant experiences and measure and track indoor air quality around factors such as carbon dioxide, relative humidity and particulate matter," according to a recent USGBC press announcement.
According to USGBC, Arc Re-Entry also helps identify opportunities to implement LEED's Safety First Credits and the WELL Health-Safety Rating.
Get more details in the USGBC press announcement.
See more ANSI member efforts in the ANSI COVID-19 Resource Webpage Highlighting Standardization Community Response Efforts.