scholarly journals Adaptation of Indoor Health and Comfort Criteria to Mitigate Covid-19 Transmission in the Workplace

Humaniora ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Dyah Kusuma Wardhani ◽  
Susan Susan
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Interior Space ◽  
Chemical Pollutants ◽  
User Capacity ◽  
Comfort Criteria

The research discussed the application of indoor health and comfort criteria that needed to be reviewed to create good indoor environmental quality and reduce the transmission of the Covid-19 virus where people spent most of their time indoors. A confined area, which was poorly ventilated and reliant on air conditioning, helped transmit the Covid-19 virus easily as air recirculation was the main cause of office clusters. One of the categories of Greenship Interior Space, Indoor Health and Comfort (IHC), could be used as a guide for creating better indoor quality. The method used for the research was a systematic literature review to define, study, analyze, and classify all available research relating to adaptation of indoor health and comfort criteria to mitigate the transmission in the workplace. The results show the adjustment to IHC criteria in IHC 1-10, which focus on providing good air quality by introducing outside air, stopping air recirculation, reducing indoor user capacity, and reducing indoor biological and chemical pollutants. To illustrate the implementation of the new normal, Ciputra University workplace was being observed, as the findings of the results, some strategies that are in line with the objectives of IHC 1, IHC 2, and IHC 5. Adjustment of these criteria must be supported by implementing health protocols through basic hygiene routines, fitness screening, and maintaining physical distancing.

scholarly journals Indoor Environmental Quality in Latin American Buildings: A Systematic Literature Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Valderrama-Ulloa ◽  
Lorena Silva-Castillo ◽  
Catalina Sandoval-Grandi ◽  
Carlos Robles-Calderon ◽  
Fabien Rouault
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality

The amount of time people spend inside buildings is significant. Indoor environment quality deficiencies in some of these buildings may affect the health of its users. Therefore, a systematic literature review has been conducted to assess the quality of indoor environments in existing buildings in Latin America. The objectives of this review are (1) identifying countries and building types whose indoor environment quality has been analyzed the most, (2) identifying most used evaluation strategies, (3) identifying comfort types and most evaluated variables, and (4) determining whether or not Latin American buildings are comfortable and what local factors contribute to that effect. From the 100 selected papers for this analysis, it was noted that Brazil and Argentina led the studies on residences and schools. It was also noted that hygrothermal comfort was the most analyzed comfort type, with temperature and humidity leading the number of studies. Finally, this review shows a lack of studies including buildings whose users are sensitive to indoor environmental quality, such as nurseries, senior homes, or health facilities. Additionally, there is a sustained discrepancy between objective measuring methods and user perception. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of 88 buildings shows that in Latin America, 67.5% of buildings are uncomfortable; thus, it is necessary to improve the designs and regulatory standards, to educate users, and to improve building monitoring management at the operational stage.

Healthy Workspaces: Strategies for Increasing the Indoor Environmental Quality at Call Centre Interiors for Employee Wellbeing and Productivity

BUILDER ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 284 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-63
Author(s):  
Salih Ceylan
Keyword(s):  
Interior Design ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Call Center ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Interior Space ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Interior Spaces ◽  
Certification And Accreditation ◽  
Cultural Functions

Indoor environmental quality is a requirement for good architectural and interior design. The definition of indoor environmental quality refers to the conditions of the interior space that provide health and wellbeing for its occupants. Elements of indoor environmental quality are thermal comfort, indoor air quality, ventilation, ergonomics, natural and artificial lighting, odor, and acoustic quality. Indoor environmental quality is required in every type of interior space including ones with residential, educational, and cultural functions and workspaces. It is also included as one of the factors of energy efficient and sustainable design in building energy certification and accreditation systems. This study focuses on call center interiors as a type of workspaces, where the employees spend a long time in the interior space communicating with customers on the phone. The aim is to provide theoretical information and practical application suggestions for higher quality design in call center interiors. The methodology of this paper consists firstly of a literature review to study and analyze the definition and elements of indoor environmental quality, and its implementation into call center interiors as workspaces. Analytical studies lead to strategy proposals for better designed call center interior spaces. The results of the study indicate that better designed interior spaces in call centers lead to better health and wellbeing of the employees, resulting with higher performance and service quality.

AN EVALUATION OF INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND OCCUPANT WELL-BEING IN MANITOBA SCHOOL BUILDINGS

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Radwan ◽  
Mohamed H. Issa
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Well Being ◽  
School Buildings ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Green School

This exploratory research aims to evaluate indoor environmental quality in the classrooms of three school buildings in Southern Manitoba, Canada, and to evaluate the well-being of these schools' teachers as it pertains to their perception of their classrooms' indoor environment. The schools include a middle-aged, conventional school; a new, non-green school; and a new, green school certified using the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. The methodology involved using a mobile instrument cart to conduct snapshot measurements of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting and acoustics in classrooms and an occupant survey to evaluate teachers' long-term satisfaction with their classrooms' indoor environmental quality. The results showed that the new, green and new, non-green schools' classrooms performed better than the conventional, middle-aged school's classrooms with respect to some aspects of thermal comfort and indoor air quality only. Teachers in the new, green school and in the new, non-green school were more satisfied than teachers in the conventional, middle-aged school with their classrooms' overall indoor environmental quality, lighting quality and indoor air quality. Surprisingly, the new, green and new-non green school classrooms' performance were very comparable with the new, green school's classrooms performing statistically significantly better with respect to relative humidity. Similarly, none of the differences in teachers' satisfaction ratings between the new, green and new, non-green school were statistically significant.

POST-OCCUPANCY EVALUATION (POE) OF CONVENTIONAL-DESIGNED BUILDINGS: THE EFFECTS OF OCCUAPNTS’ COMFORT ON PRODUCTIVITY

2015 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farid-Wajdi Akashah ◽  
Azlan Shah Ali ◽  
Siti Fatunah Mohd Zahari
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Post Occupancy Evaluation ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Spss Software

POE is important to evaluate comfort level and satisfaction of building occupants because it indicates their productivity, health, and wellbeing. It is absolutely necessary to ensure building occupants are comfortable and satisfied about buildings’ indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Productivity may be interrupted due to building occupants’ discomfort, which affect their work performance. This study presents the how comfort and satisfaction affects the occupants’ productivity in conventional-designed buildings. Five office buildings located in University of Malaya were selected as the case studies. 278 questionnaires feedbacks found to be useful to form a database on the IEQ. Data obtained were analyzed using SPSS software. The findings shows that majority of the respondents in conventional-designed building were slightly comfortable and satisfied about their IEQ comfort level which were indoor air quality, thermal, lighting, and noise comforts. Although, the design of conventional buildings did not taking into account on sustainability designing, it still functionally well and provided comfort which leads to increasing of employees productivity. The associative test showed significant correlation between illness symptom and IEQ components. Admin buildings had more noticeable illness symptoms in contrast with Faculty buildings. It could be concluded that building occupants’ productivity were least affected by the conventional-design building.  

Computation of zone-level ventilation requirement based on actual occupancy, plug and lighting load information

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Anand ◽  
David Cheong ◽  
Chandra Sekhar
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Ventilation ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Ventilation Rate ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Energy Data ◽  
Variable Air Volume ◽  
Air Volume ◽  
Ventilation Rates

This paper presents a case study to compare the zone-level actual supplied ventilation rate with minimum required ventilation rate for a typical variable air volume (VAV) operation. The minimum required ventilation rate was computed using zone-level actual occupancy, plug and lighting load data. Two different algorithms were adopted to collect the actual zone-level occupancy information using camera-based technology which are (a) area-based occupancy counting and (b) row-based occupancy counting. Similarly, zone-level Plug, lighting and air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) system-related energy data were taken from the energy submeters and BTU meters. The median values of actual supplied ventilation rates are 0.16, 0.14, 0.14 and 0.12 m3/s for the classroom, computer room, open office and closed office, respectively. For the same zone, the computed minimum required ventilation rates are 0.10, 0.09, 0.10 and 0.08 m3/s, respectively. This case study shows that except during evening classes in classroom and computer room, the actual ventilation supplied is much more than the minimum required ventilation. These over and under ventilation scenarios have been identified as an indicator for energy wastage and poor indoor environmental quality, respectively.

scholarly journals Gender Matters! Thermal Comfort and Individual Perception of Indoor Environmental Quality: A Literature Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 169-200
Author(s):  
Edeltraud Haselsteiner
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Influencing Factor ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Climate ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Quality Health ◽  
Sick Building

AbstractThe use of technology in construction has allowed a significant increase in comfort and the construction of energy-efficient buildings. However, for indoor environmental comfort, there is no universal standard that fits all. The indoor climate is perceived individually and the requirements are subjectively shaped. In this paper, a literature review is carried out to describe particular aspects relevant to gender. The aim is to raise awareness of these aspects in order to advance equality orientation as an integral part of planning and energy-efficient building concepts. The findings show that thermal comfort is an essential parameter, and up to 3 °C of differences between women and men were found. This difference is most evident in offices where women show a better cognitive performance in a warmer environment, while men do better in colder temperatures. Gender was also found to be an influencing factor of satisfaction with humidity, acoustic conditions, visual comfort, privacy, air quality, health aspects, light preferences, and brightness perception. Moreover, sick-building syndrome is more common among women. In conclusion, the literature confirms that essential indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters vary significantly across men and women and should be taken more into account in the practice of building technology.

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