ASHRAE Takes a Look at Separate IAQ Standards

Whether or not to separate ventilation standards for hospitality and industrial facilities was a hotly debated topic as ASHRAE's Indoor-Air-Quality Technical Committee attempted to tackle the issue at the Winter Meeting.

More than a hundred people attended the pre-show seminar, "Is there a Need for a Seperate IAQ Standard for the Hospitality Industry," yet no clear cut answer emerged.

Currently, ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2001, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, offers general guidelines for all non-residential facilities, but the question has been raised whether the nature of hospitality and industrial facilities necessitates separate standards.

For example, in an office building, IAQ standards dictate if and when an employee can smoke; however, it may not be in a restaurant or hotel's best interest to restrict smoking. "A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate," says panelist Elia Sterling.

Committee Chairman Andy Persily, Ph.D., and fellow committee member Steven Taylor, P.E., strongly disagreed, pointing out that representatives from the hospitality industry serve on the committee—and 75% of the committee's members have worked on hospitality projects—yet no clear need for a separate standard has been identified.

As for industrial facilities, some ASHRAE members noted that regulating an industrial environment to be as clean as an office is not realistic. Consequently, Standard 62.1 doesn't provide helpful guidelines, they claim.

According to Persily, the committee recognizes this need, yet the complicated nature of industrial spaces has made it difficult to establish such guidelines.