WASHINGTON, DC — The national Hospitality Coalition on Indoor Air Quality (the Coalition) wants the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) to create a separate standard-setting committee that will have the specific responsibility of addressing hotel, restaurant, tavern, and casino indoor air quality requirements.

Steve Grover, vice president of health and safety regulatory affairs for the National Restaurant Association, and Erik Emblem, executive director of the National Energy Management Institute, both Coalition co-chairs, sent a letter to ASHRAE president James E. Wolf stating that the Coalition supports “the development of a separate ventilation and indoor air quality standard for the hospitality industry,” removing its members from Standard 62.1. The letter requests that “Engineers who are knowledgeable about the specialized ventilation requirements for hospitality facilities should be the ones charged with developing the operating requirements for hospitality ventilation systems.”

The Coalition stated that the basis for appointing a specific committee has precedence with previous actions taken by ASHRAE, “in creating 62.2 for residences, 161P for aircraft, and removing health care and industrial facilities from 62.1 because of the special circumstances associated with these facilities.”