Industry News: COVID-19 Updates and Healthy Buildings  

The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) will host a nationwide Safety Stand Down for COVID-19 on April 29. Electrical contractors across the country will invite employees, subcontractors, owners, architects, and engineers to join the event to review company protocols and jobsite conditions, and ask questions, bringing focus to health and safety guidance offered by the Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

BOMA International has established a continually updated website, designed especially to provide commercial real estate professionals with credible information on how to mitigate the potential health and business impacts of COVID-19. The site contains a series of guidance papers and links to a number of recorded webinars. Also of interest is a detailed analysis of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and its potential effect on businesses, employees, and tenants.

Building Design & Construction (BD&C) for the past month has been collecting articles from around the industry to share how AEC firms are coping with the crisis. Additionally, BD&C, in conjunction with the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), is conducting a survey of the effect of the virus on the ability of AEC professionals to gain and conduct projects. The survey will be distributed biweekly to measure changes in business conditions. The current version will close on Tuesday, April 28, at midnight ET. Findings are published biweekly on the BD&C website, as well through SMPS channels.

USGBC's Learning Lab online education platform offers lessons and activities that are well-suited for distance learning and many that are ideal for implementing at home, while being academically rigorous and fostering sustainability literacy. Many of these lessons are free; an annual subscription is $40. Additionally, many of USGBC's Learning Lab Partners have mobilized to provide training and experiences that can help educators and parents succeed for the sake of students. USGBC offers a wealth of additional educational resources, including a summer high school toolkit, lessons for educators to use for distance learning, at-home lessons, and even 10 ways to celebrate Earth Day (April 22) at home.

The building safety industry is adapting to ensure that it can continue to perform its public safety mission while addressing concerns over COVID-19. To offer support at this time, the International Code Council (ICC) has compiled pertinent informative webinars for all to think about as they navigate these uncharted waters. All these webinars are free. After each event takes place, its recording is made available on the ICC web site. See the WBDG Industry Events calendar for upcoming webinars.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed guidance to help businesses limit the economic and community impacts of an outbreak of COVID-19. This new guidance provides steps that are recommended to protect employees and prepare small businesses for disruption. The guidance includes a factsheet outlining 10 steps small business employers can take now to protect their employees' health.

The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) has created a robust and continually updated database linking to resources of import to the plumbing and mechanical industries, who were declared essential infrastructure workers by the Department of Homeland Security. Offerings range from "Guidelines to Protect Workers Related to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Other Potential Infectious Materials (OPIM) in Plumbing and HVAC Systems" to "Coronavirus in Plumbing Systems: How Did the Outbreak Occur in Hong Kong and Is there a Risk in North America?"

This year's theme of "On the Pandemic Frontline: Children, Families & Schools" highlighted the issue foremost on the minds of all who design, build, and work in schools. The Healthy School Network's online resource page offers the gamut of resources on safe and healthy school buildings, including a section on, "Guidance for Improving Buildings and Grounds," addressing such topics as indoor air quality and extreme weather resistance strategies for school buildings.

In an editorial featured in the Boston Globe, founding principal architect and executive director Michael Murphy of MASS Design, Boston, details how architecture, if deployed as an active agent in the fight against COVID-19, might "recapture trust over our public spaces and solve problems. The spatial choices we make today, during this emergency, might make or break our ability to survive both this crisis and the next one."

BuildingAction: The Coalition for Sustainable Buildings, a new nonprofit coalition comprised of companies and organizations involved in the creation and use of buildings, held its "COVID-19 Building Recovery and Relief" webinar on April 2 to explore policy ideas to help ensure a healthy built environment, both as an immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to spur long-term economic recovery. Slides from the webinar are available for viewing on the coalition's website. The site also offers links to a number of resources pertinent to the building industry and focused on COVID-19.

A group of anesthesiologists at Massachusetts General Hospital has issued the CoVent-19 Challenge, launched on the GrabCAD Challenges platform on April 1. The CoVent-19 Challenge is an open innovation, eight-week challenge for engineers, innovators, designers, and makers—individually or in teams—to bridge the gap between need and actual resources by fostering innovation of a rapidly deployable, minimum viable mechanical ventilator for patients with covid-19 lung injury. All who are interested may join a two-round challenge that aims to create CAD assemblies by May 1, 2020 (Round 1: General Admission) and functional prototypes demonstrating acceptable performance by June 1, 2020 (Round 2: Invitation Only). Finalists will work directly with Stratasys 3D printing experts and the CoVent-19 Challenge team to turn their designs into prototypes for testing.