By Ron Holdaway, PE, CEM, LEED APASHRAE recently published the 2nd edition of the HVAC Design Manual for Hospitals and Clinics. ASHRAE states that this book, a complete rewrite of the 1st edition, focuses specifically on HVAC system design for health care facilities, omitting general system descriptions that are readily available in other ASHRAE publications.
This new ASHRAE publication is an excellent resource on current HVAC design topics for today’s health care facilities. Topics range from HVAC Systems, Infection Control, Utilities, O&M, and Infection Control Risk Assessments (ICRA) to sustainability in healthcare facilities and seismic design for HVAC systems in healthcare. All of these are very relevant topics for design engineers and building owners of health care facilities.
The new ASHRAE book has an entire chapter on Infection Control. Generally the ASHRAE design manual acknowledges a lack of definitive industry knowledge on mechanisms of transmission of airborne contaminants. The manual states on page 19 ”Transmission of airborne hazards is influenced by factors beyond the control of the engineer that include movement of patients, undiagnosed patients, visitors, concentration of patients, and patient susceptibility. The nature of infectious pathogens, the modes of transmission, the causation of infections, and the relationships to HVAC system design are complicated and not fully understood.”
However, the design manual does contain some specific suggestions such as the following excerpt from page 19: “HVAC systems can affect the distribution patterns of airborne particles by diluting or concentrating them, moving them into or out of the breathing zones of susceptible persons, or by accelerating or decelerating the rate of growth of airborne microbes.” The design manual also cautions healthcare facility operations personnel that “Improperly operated and maintained HVAC systems can even become a reservoir for microorganisms.”
The ASHRAE HVAC Design Manual for Hospitals and Clinics is available at the ASHRAE bookstore: www.ashrae.org/bookstore.
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