ASHRAE Provides Risk Management Guidance for Building Owners.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2002

Building owners who have concerns about their buildings have an ally - the engineers who design the HVAC systems that provide the air that occupants breathe.

In a new report issued by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), building owners are urged to follow common sense guidelines and seek engineers' advice before modifying building systems, such as closing outdoor air intakes.

The report, Risk Management Guidance for Health and Safety Under Extraordinary Incidents, was delivered at ASHRAE's 2002 Winter Meeting held Jan. 12-16 in Atlantic City, N.J. The report was written by the Society's Presidential Study Group on Health and Safety Under Extraordinary Incidents, which was appointed after the attacks of Sept. 11 and subsequent events.

A copy of the report is available on ASHRAE Online, www.ashrae.org.

"Much of the guidance given by ASHRAE relating to acceptable indoor environments, human comfort and safety also serves to protect the health and safety of building occupants under extraordinary incidents," ASHRAE President William Coad, P.E., said. "Most of the recommendations included in this report are common sense measures that building owners and managers should already be following."

The group made three preliminary recommendations for owners and managers of existing buildings:

-- Understand the capabilities of your building and its systems;

-- Assure that buildings are performing as intended;

-- Do not make changes to building performance unless the consequences are
understood.

"Building owners and occupants may now be willing to redirect resources to enhance building performance to further reduce occupant risk associated with extraordinary incidents, while continuing to provide acceptable indoor environments, with energy efficiency and cost effectiveness during normal conditions," James Woods, Ph.D., P.E., chair of the study group, said.

The report includes a list of major systems, components and processes that should be considered as safety issues associated with extraordinary incidents in most existing buildings.

These include ventilation system operation, filter efficiency and bypass, quantity of outdoor air, controlled access to air handling components, securing of likely entry points, fire protection and life safety, building shell and duct tightness, areas of refuge and preparedness plan.

The group also made three recommendations regarding actions that should not

be taken without consulting a professional engineer.

-- Do not close outdoor air intake dampers or otherwise block

ventilation air paths;

-- Do not change the designed airflow patterns or quantities;

-- Do not modify the fire protection and life-safety systems

without approval of the local fire marshal.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of 55,000 persons. Its sole objective is to advance through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education the arts and sciences of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve the evolving needs of the public.