ASHRAE joins Healthy Workplaces Coalition

USA: ASHRAE is one of more than 40 US organisations behind the Healthy Workplaces Coalition, a new group seeking to promote health and safety improvements in the US workplace.

Members of this new advocacy coalition launched on Capitol Hill last week will work together to not only support federal policy promoting healthy workplaces, but also raise awareness using a collective voice to help the public, policymakers and businesses understand the imperative of workplace health and safety during the covid-19 pandemic and beyond.

In addition to ASHRAE, the Coalition’s steering committee comprises representatives from the International WELL Building Institute, the Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association (ISSA), American Institute of Architects, American Society of Interior Designers, Building Owners and Managers Association International, Green Seal, International Facilities Management Association, the Real Estate Roundtable and the US Green Building Council.

“ASHRAE’s longstanding commitment to drive health and human comfort in buildings aligns perfectly with the Healthy Workplaces Coalition,” said ASHRAE executive vice president Jeff Littleton.

The group argues that businesses across the US have struggled to meet new and evolving expectations for safely returning to the workplace over the past two years. It points to a recent Honeywell survey which found that 72% of office workers worldwide had worries about air quality in their workplaces. They had concerns about the impact on their well-being and wanted more information from employers about actions taken to improve the built environment.

“For the first time, many of the nation’s most important building organisations and leading businesses are uniting to advocate for workplace health,” said Rachel Hodgdon, president and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute. “This kind of collaborative advocacy will help drive the level of investment necessary to get us safely back to business now and fortify our workplaces for the future.”

Other members of the Healthy Workplaces Coalition include the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), Carrier Global Corporation, Daikin US Corporation, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric and Trane Technologies.