How a NEBB Firm Helped Clients Deal with COVID-19

I am sure everyone will remember many years from now what they did in the spring of 2020 during the lockdown. Like everyone else, our small firm in Toronto, Ontario providing air and water balancing services didn’t know what to expect from COVID-19.

By now, many balancing firms have served at the forefront of the battle helping to build rapid response units, or spending weeks in hospitals trying to help pressurizing areas in order to support containment of the virus. Our experience, however, was less exciting. For some of our clients, this was a period where they would have to perform at their peak, while others used the time to get their facilities in order and be prepared for when things return to normal.

Near the beginning of February, we had calls from two hospitals with which we worked closely in the past. They asked our firm to make sure the isolation rooms were functioning properly and to provide documentation around air changes for selected rooms.

By late February, we had started work on a large government-run long-term care facility named Malton Village. The project intent was to rebalance the existing building, as some ventilation issues had seemed to linger since the construction was completed in 2018. We followed all the safety guidelines in place at that time: no technician that had traveled to the Wuhan province or other affected areas.

By mid-March we had managed to balance the airflow for each room at Malton Village with all resident rooms positive to the common corridor—just before cases of COVID-19 started to multiply in our area. At that point, we consulted with the client and stopped the work, as the news made it clear that the older population would be more susceptible. We like to think that balancing the airflow for each resident room made a small difference, as no outbreaks developed in the facility.

As March came to an end, our health and safety policy had to be updated to include measures for preventing the spread of the virus. At the same time, a shortage of masks made us cancel a good number of ongoing projects, and caused worry about the length of time we would be able to continue going to sites.

Meanwhile, other clients like the University of Toronto used an empty campus as an opportunity to access and complete balancing in areas that would otherwise be accessible only during nights or weekends.

In April when all the activity was legislated to stop, residential construction was allowed to continue. With a reduced crew, we continued to work on a number of condominium high-rise towers. Toronto currently has 121 cranes dotting the skyline, and 88 of them are on residential buildings—mostly high-rises.

Now as I write this in late May, activity is almost back to normal. Dentist offices are looking to open their practice cabinets and to comply with the new legislation. The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario issued a new guideline for the dentistry practices to reopen after being closed for three months. One of the new risk infection management rules refers to the “Clearing the Air of Aerosols (Fallout Time),” based on the number of air changes per room an interval of time should be allowed to pass in between patients.

For example, if 10 air changes per hour (ACH) are met, then 41 minutes should pass between patients to allow for the removal and settling of aerosols. Similarly, for 20 ACH, the time interval between patients is reduced to 21 minutes.

We’re now looking to help our new clients complete measurements and advise on the additional ventilation needed in order to cut the wait time between patients. We can do that by increasing the airflow or advise on how they may decrease the room size. Self-contained filtration units are now considered to be added in the room in order to meet requirements.

Looking back, I think we missed our chance to create our own silly video clip, like the many seen circulating around when everyone was in lockdown. Maybe we’ll find time whenever things slow down. Until then, I would like to repeat the words we all hear now: please stay healthy and safe.