ASHRAE issues new standard for hospitals and a revised user manual for energy Standard 90.1

The American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has issued new ventilation design requirements for health care facilities. The Standard 170-2008 Ventilation of Health Care Facilities defines ventilation requirements for both comfort and for infection and odour control.
The chair of the committee that wrote the standard was Richard Hermans, P.E. In announcing its publication, he said “Air-transmitted pathogens can be found everywhere in poorly ventilated health care facilities. … Because these organisms are found in higher concentrations in hospitals and because patients are susceptible to them, additional care should be taken in the design of ventilation systems.”
The standard addresses systems and equipment, space ventilation in a variety of areas including airborne infection isolation rooms, critical care units, burn units, surgery rooms, etc. It also covers ventilation during construction and system start-up.
ASHRAE has also issued a revised user’s manual for Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. The manual has been through an extensive revision process to incorporate 44 addenda approved since the 2004 edition.
Visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore.