Looking at COVID-19 through healthy-building eyes
This is part of our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. A Harvard healthy-buildings expert has laid out a lower-cost, five-layered approach for employers and building managers as they consider how to safely reopen their establishments and get America back to work. Joseph Allen, assistant professor of exposure, assessment science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of the School’s Healthy Buildings Program, said existing safety guidelines called the “hierarchy of controls,” normally used to reduce risk in situations such as hazardous chemicals in the workplace, would be suitable for blocking exposure to COVID-19. The system used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) consists of five steps, with the use of personal protective equipment being...