Modern Building Services

26 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES JUNE 2021 HEALTH & SAFETY FEATURE HEALTH & SAFETY A s we eventually make our way back into indoor spaces, cleanliness and safety will be key factors in reassuring people that a building is safer. Therefore, building owners, operators and employers must reassess not only procedures but also the infrastructure and make the necessary investments to instil confidence amongst staff, customers and other users. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased emphasis on staying safer. This means that as we return to indoor places to work, shop, study and play, many health and safety factors which weren’t top of mind for many people before are now coming under the spotlight. Many stakeholders, including workers, are now keenly attuned to the steps employers are taking to make their premises safer and healthier both now and for the future. What are the perceptions and feelings amongst employees of their workplaces? How can specifiers meet these expectations and that electrical touchpoints can stand up to scrutiny if their hygiene levels are questioned? Workforce insights In a recent study commissioned by Honeywell and carried out by Wakefield Research of workers’ perceptions on the health and safety of their workplace, a staggering majority of the workforce in the UK (71%) does not feel completely safe working in their employer’s buildings. This number is even higher for those working remotely (78%), who are especially sceptical about the safety of work sites. In the UK, half of the participants interviewed are equally concerned with transmission of COVID-19 through touching a surface that has the virus (51%) and through the air (49%). In fact, their level of worry for surface transfer is significantly higher compared to other employees around the world (44%). Althoughmany buildings have made changes to their procedures to address these concerns, investments are not beingmade to the buildings themselves – and their occupants have noticed. 62% of respondents in the UK believe that their buildingmanagement is likely tomake short-term changes in response to COVID-19 (62%), rather than long-term investments in building systems to keep them safer. With nearly one in five (22%) remote employees saying that they would look for a new job rather than return to a site that did not implement the necessary safetymeasures, it is clear that workers are going to demandmore frombuildings in the future. Companies who don’t take the provision of safer and healthier environments seriously enough in the long term, even when the current pandemic ends, could risk losing valuable staff. Electrical touchpoints Whether it’s an office, classroom or hospital, buildings are meant to be spaces to bring people together. If they are to continue serving this purpose in the future, building managers and businesses will need to restore confidence in being indoors beyond short-term measures. So, whilst more frequent cleaning, encouraging all building users to regularly wash their hands and social distancing set ups can all improve safety, deploying the right technologies and materials should also form part of the longer- term strategy to create a healthier environment overall. Electrical wiring devices such as switches and sockets are just one of many touchpoints around a building that can provide opportunities for contagions to spread. Therefore, choosing products that have anti- bacterial and anti-viral properties can help to reduce the risk of infections. Many devices are now manufactured frommaterials which have these attributes, such as urea formaldehyde, making them an effective weapon in killing harmful bacteria and viruses. Products that are scratch free, thanks to high quality mould tools, such as MK’s urea formaldehyde wiring devices, minimises surfaces for pathogens to hide, providing another way to help stop the spread of infections. Emma Segelov , MK Electric’s EMEA marketing operations manager, looks at the key areas of concern amongst workers in the UK, and examines improvements which can be made to minimise the spread of contaminants via touchpoints in the workplace. Making electrical touchpoints safer