Society updating Legionnaire's Disease HVAC market standard
Nearly 40 decades after term Legionnaire’s Disease entered the consciousness, ASHRAE says an updated version of its regulations to control and avoid the sickness are on the way.
The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers say the first standardized building industry HVAC construction requirements to deal with the disease are now being written.
Known as standard 188P, “Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems,” it will identify risk factors for the airborne sickness and how to control them.
“The new version of the standard will provide the building community with reasonable and practical methods to control exposure to the bacterium that could cause harm,” said Tom Watson, chairman of the committee writing the standard. “Effective design, maintenance and operational procedures that avoid amplification and dissemination of legionella are necessary throughout the life of a building to reduce the risk of the disease.”
Watson cautioned that the HVAC market draft currently being disseminated does not contain advice from ASHRAE.
“We recognize there is much interest in this standard and its requirements,” he said. “However, as the committee moves forward with writing the standard, the provisions in the current draft are subject to change between now and the final published version. Use of the technical details of the proposed standard could lead to actions and expenditures being taken that may not fall under the final requirements of the published standard.”
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
