NEWS
Building engineers will save more lives than doctors
A
leading respiratory illness expert has claimed that facilities management and building services engineering will have a greater infl uence on worldwide human health and wellbeing than the medical and social care professions. Dr Philip Webb, chief executive of
Respiratory Innovation Wales (RIW), told a technical briefi ng hosted in London by the CIBSE Patrons that the huge scale of the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) crisis meant that greater investment in building and facilities management would be more eff ective than medical treatment in reducing excess deaths related to respiratory, cardiovascular and mental health conditions. He called for a fundamental
reassessment of the way public money and resources were allocated to address the areas of greatest need, pointing out that air quality was responsible for higher numbers
for young people in our industry to showcase and celebrate their skills in a prestigious international competition, said Helen Yeulet, the Association’s director of competence and compliance. “As well as promoting themselves, they will also be demonstrating to the world the importance of the RAC sector and the breadth and depth of talent we have here in the UK.”
The competition is a seven-month
process including regional heats and intensive training before stepping up to the ultimate test of the national fi nals in November, which will be held at venues across Greater Manchester. The fi nals will see young people from across the UK come together before the winners are announced and celebrated at a glittering medal ceremony.
Students and apprentices who
excel in the national fi nals could then be selected to join WorldSkills
of excess deaths than the Covid-19 pandemic, cancer, heart disease and mental health combined. However, it receives a tiny fraction of the public money and resources allocated to health and wellbeing services. According to data from Public Health Wales, Covid-19 was responsible for 38 deaths per 100,000 of the global population, smoking annually accounts for 180, and cancer 278, but air quality is responsible for up to 1,400 excess deaths per 100,000 every year. Webb also pointed out that there
were 3,000 new occupational asthma cases reported in the UK every year linked to the air quality in workplaces. “We are suff ering from a legacy of poor building design dating back to the 1960s and 70s,” he said. “With people spending, on average, up to 90% of their time indoors, it is indoor air quality (IAQ) that is the most serious issue.
UK’s international development and training programme, which can lead to them being selected for Team UK and competing at WorldSkills. The competition will challenge
entrants to demonstrate their skills and knowledge through tasks inspired by real life industry scenarios. They will be tested on digital programming, fault fi nding/diagnosis, fabrication, service, maintenance, and record keeping as well as their ability to charge equipment and recover refrigerants in line with environmental legislation.
Candidates must be working
towards a level 3 qualifi cation in refrigeration/air conditioning/ heat pumps or have achieved a qualifi cation within the last 12 months. They must also have no more than three years industry experience outside of their apprenticeship period.
“However, what small amount
of government money is spent on environmental quality is aimed at addressing outdoor pollution, so it is increasingly important that we change the whole narrative around this issue. If properly supported, facilities and building management systems could have a far bigger impact on health and wellbeing than the whole of the health and social care system globally.” RIW, which is part of the Raven
Delta Group, calculated that in Wales alone £2.4 billion (£763 million on direct health costs) had been spent on mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. The country also spends £409m a year on cancer care, £446m on cardiovascular disease, and £750m on mental health, but less than £20m on air quality measures largely focused on outdoor air quality. “It can’t be right that the biggest killer gets the smallest fraction of the money…and, in eff ect, relatively little is being spent on IEQ,” Webb told the CIBSE Patrons meeting. “However, the insurance industry is starting to make its presence felt because more claims are being made for workplace ill health.”
He added the launch later this year
of a new British Standard for health and wellbeing in buildings British
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Standard 40102 (Part One) would provide benchmarks against which buildings could be measured. It is the fi rst standard of its type in the world and was unveiled at the recent COP28 climate conference in Dubai. The standard, which will be formally launched in the UK later this year, provides recommendations for measuring, monitoring, and reporting IEQ in all types of non- domestic buildings. It includes an evaluation and rating system for air quality, lighting, thermal comfort, and acoustics. Webb explained that those
developing the standard were inspired to reduce the costs associated with ill-health and the pressures exerted on public services by poor IEQ in new and existing buildings.
The meeting then discussed the need to improve the quality of metering and monitoring devices for airborne contaminants so the ventilation industry, in particular, could more accurately assess the measures it needed to take. Webb also urged building engineers to adopt “whole building solutions” based around fi ltration, purifi cation and air fl ow technologies supported by greater use of digital monitoring and control powered by AI.
www.acr-news.com • April 2024 13
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