Thankfully, engineers are providing the tools and expertise to do exactly that. Measures to improve ventilation and indoor air quality using the latest high-performance air filters and UV sterilising lamps will make the country more resilient, said engineer and airborne infection specialist Professor Catherine Noakes OBE to Professional Engineering at a recent IMechE-hosted parliament event.
“The great thing about ventilation and air cleaning measures is that they provide ‘background resilience’,” she said. “It won't remove every case of infection but it reduces the risk… it reduces the probability of the big outbreaks happening.”
Poor ventilation could be responsible for more than 10% of Covid cases, Professor Noakes said, equivalent to roughly 20,000 deaths in the UK. Improving it could prevent deaths and help avoid significant financial cost – the background level of disruption caused by seasonal flu costs the UK about £8bn per year, rising to an estimated £23bn during a pandemic, according to the recent National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC) report Infection resilient environments, which was highlighted at the event on 13 July.
Unlike the restrictions that limited public interaction during lockdown, Professor Noakes described ventilation as an “enabler” that works in the background to provide a better quality of life and a safer environment. As well as protecting against infections, it can improve the population’s respiratory health, productivity, and sleep.
Quick fixes and permanent solutions
Sponsored by MP Amanda Solloway and held at Portcullis House in Westminster, the event also highlighted a portable air cleaner developed by PP-L Biosafety. HEPA filters can capture dirt, bacteria, viruses and liquid aerosols, while UV sanitisers can deactivate the Covid-19 virus with greater flexibility and lower cost.
Plug-in air cleaners are a quick fix, said IMechE fellow Professor Noakes, but more permanent solutions could bring wider benefits. “What we need is to think about evaluating spaces properly, and how we design in the right technology – designing in ventilation that in winter recovers heat, that builds the air cleaning into the ventilation system, so they're not ad hoc. If you do that right, you can create environments which are comfortable, which are healthy, and which are sustainable.”
Wider understanding of ventilation and environmental issues gives companies more remit to develop and install new technologies, she added.
Hosted in conjunction with the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, the event saw a presentation and Q&A from four students from St Teresa's RC Primary School in Morden, who spoke about their experience trialling air sanitisers in their classrooms.
Former IMechE president Peter Flinn, CEO Dr Alice Bunn OBE and president Phil Peel with students from St Teresa's Primary School
The pupils showed how people can take an active interest in air quality to improve their own environment, said Professor Noakes. “They have learned about how you can use a CO2 meter to understand what's happening to the air in the building and to manage the air… We do it all the time with our heating system at home, we watch the temperature and we switch the heating on and off to respond. We can do exactly the same with air, to be provided with good clean air.”
Engineering influencers
Ultimately much of the responsibility lies with the government, said Professor Peter Guthrie OBE, vice-president of the Royal Academy of Engineering and chair of the NEPC Infection Resilient Environments working group – although it is often unclear which government department is responsible for building health, making it difficult to efficiently deliver solutions.
Ventilation is probably not managed well enough in 99% of the buildings we use, he said, thanks to flaws in their design, management and operation.
The government must seize the opportunity created by the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure long-term improvements to infection control in buildings, according to the recent NEPC report, which includes contributions from the IMechE. Infection control must be coordinated with energy efficiency and fire safety efforts, helping support the goals of safe, healthy and sustainable buildings.
Recommendations in the report included: the British Standards Institution to establish best practice; the UK Health Security Agency to promote the benefits of infection resilience and good indoor air quality; and industry bodies and public procurement driving improvements to ensure buildings operate as designed in terms of infection resilience.
“The other thing that I’m amazed hasn't changed is that the office environment has not been redesigned as a result of Covid,” said Professor Guthrie. We now know that many more people can work from home, he said – that means fewer people in the office, less commuting, and reduced costs elsewhere, presenting an opportunity for “a completely new and imaginative way of bringing workforces together creatively, on a part-time basis,” based around social and meeting spaces rather than banks of computer monitors.
“You might want quite a lot of office space to be outside space, for example. If you're meeting socially, why would you need to dress in a suit and tie and expect the temperature to be 21ºC, that's ridiculous.
“So I'm surprised there hasn't been more movement in that direction. Employers seem to be quite keen to get back to the status quo, which I think is unfortunate.”
Engineers with deep technical knowledge can educate others on how to create infection resilient environments, but he suggested that engineering education should be redesigned to attract a wider spectrum of applicants and make them into “influencers” as well as experts.
Thankfully, events such as the one in parliament can bring engineers and politicians together, helping spread awareness and encouraging positive action.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.