Esber Andiroglu, a College of Engineering researcher, is part of a new taskforce that examines how building codes can reduce the effects of pandemics.
Hospitals were being pushed into the brink. Many hospitals were facing a shortage of beds as coronavirus cases rose across the country.
Some cities came up with a plan to convert thousands of hotel rooms into makeshift quarters that could be used by low-acuity patients. This would allow for the freeing up of space in hospitals that have been overwhelmed by severe COVID-19.
The strategy required more than just the transfer of patients to other buildings. To reduce the risk of transmission by airborne virus, ventilation and air-cleaning systems in some of these temporary spaces had to be upgraded.
These rooms were eventually converted back to hotel accommodations. These rooms were converted to hotel lodgings after their brief stay as quarantine quarters.
Through his participation in a new task force, a University of Miami researcher is helping to answer this question and many others.
“Among the many things we’ve learned during this pandemic is that the way buildings are designed and laid out can actually have a considerable impact on the health and safety of its occupants,” said Esber Andiroglu, an associate professor of practice in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering in the University’s College of Engineering.
The Washington, D.C.-based International Code Council appointed him to serve as a member of a joint taskforce on pandemics with NEHA. The unit’s goals: Investigate the effects of the pandemic on the built environment, develop a roadmap, and propose resources—including guidelines, recommended practices, publications, and updates to international building codes—to overcome the myriad challenges pandemics pose to constructing safe, sustainable, and affordable structures.
“Our intent is to analyze and study all possible code proposals and to revise them if necessary,” Andiroglu explained.
The task force’s recommendations, he reported, could potentially be adopted by the ICC and included in the agency’s 2027 edition of the International Building Code, a uniform code used by most jurisdictions in the U.S. that maintains public health and safety and provides safeguards from hazards associated with man-made structures.
While public health experts expect the SARS-CoV-2 virus to become endemic, circulating at much lower levels and resulting in fewer hospitalizations and deaths, “future pandemics are inevitable, and like the health care sector, the building and construction industry has to be prepared for them,” Andiroglu pointed out.
The ICC-NEHA taskforce, on which he is a member, has already begun preparations. It is broken into multiple committees that address different issues. For example, an architecture and structures committee reviews codes for buildings that have been permanently converted into facilities like testing or health care sites.
“Every time any building is designed, there should be something in the code that addresses the potential for a future, permanent conversion like a school being turned into a hospital,” he said. “So, from the initial design stage of a structure, certain elements would be integrated that would make a switch from one type of occupancy or activity to another go much smoother as opposed to doing a conversion you may not be prepared for.”
This committee will also examine codes that regulate surfaces in buildings. As the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, there were concerns that the virus could also be spread via contact with infected surfaces. Some consumers began to disinfect their parcels and wipe down grocery shelves.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dispelled these fears, stating that although transmission is possible through contact with contaminated surfaces and/or objects, it is generally low.
“But the initial thought process was to start disinfecting and wiping down all surfaces, which carries the possibility of causing the mutation of typical bacteria that existed,” Andiroglu explained. “Now, there’s the potential for next-generational bacteria that none of our wipes or disinfectants are effective against. So, we’re looking at codes on how surfaces should be installed.”
He pointed out the current practice in hospital construction, where walls and floors are constructed with curved finishes near the baseboards in order to reduce the risk of bacteria growing in cracks.
Andiroglu chairs the task force’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing committee that is studying codes on everything from heating and ventilation systems to air sensors, lighting, and wastewater disposal.
“We have always had sensors in the built environment that help regulate the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. And based on the CO₂ content, we regulate how much fresh air we introduce into the built environment to purify the air. Traditionally, we focused primarily on CO₂, but because of the pandemic, we’re now interested in a lot more chemicals.”
He highlighted College of Engineering Dean Pratim Biswas’s work in aerosol science and the development of air quality sensors to detect, track, and help prevent transmission of the coronavirus. Droplets from the SARS-CoV-2 virus can remain in the air for hours after an infected person speaks, coughs, sneezes, or breathes, with some of those droplets traveling more than six feet from the source, Biswas’s research has shown.
“So, adjusting air velocity from air-conditioning grilles to make sure that air moves faster is something we’re looking at,” Andiroglu said.
Helena Solo-Gabriele, a professor at the Department of Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering, is also being mentioned. She studies how wastewater can be used for coronavirus outbreak prediction. “In fact, there are already sensors that have been developed just for that purpose,” he said. “Some have been proposed to be adopted into code. And it’s our job to validate them.”
A committee focusing on temporary operations is currently examining what codes, other than ventilation system upgrades at local government levels, should be used in makeshift hospitals or testing facilities. “What if, for example, the Miami Beach Convention Center were converted into a temporary pandemic hospital? How would we regulate such as a massive operation?” Andiroglu asked.
The other members of the task force face their own challenges. They include recommending certain practices that will increase energy consumption and carbon emissions. “Public health is paramount,” he said, “so it’s a challenge we’ll need to address, perhaps through technological innovations.”
Andiroglu, along with the other members of the task force, hope to complete a draft of best practices by April.