30 de mai. de 2012

Fórum Internacional sobre Qualidade do Ar de Interiores

Hoje dia 30/05, estivemos presente no Fórum Internacional sobre Qualidade do Ar de Interiores. Muitos amigos da área do ar condicionado e várias associações. Boas apresentações e debates, marcaram o Fórum. Pontos polêmicos foram:
* Filtros
* Nível de CO2 nas áreas internas, já que a ANVISA pela RE09 tem como padrão 1000 ppm e toda área técnica presente não concorda com o valor expresso pela resolução. Neste tema, vai haver um movimento intenso para que a ANVISA reveja a RE09.
* Certificação LEED.
O Fórum teve a presença do Thomas Watson, que será o novo presidente da ASHRAE (USA).
Válido o encontro e espero que muitos outros possam acontecer, pois estamos precisando mesmo de definições mais claras sobre as normas de Qualidade do Ar de Interiores.

28 de mai. de 2012

ASHRAE Targets Legionellosis - SETRI


Industry Q&A: William McCoy, PhD
ASHRAE Committee Chair William McCoy, PhD

With the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) new standard to help prevent legionellosis from building water systems to be released before the end of year, Healthcare Building Ideas caught up with Committee Chair William McCoy, to find out how ASHRAE Standard 188P “Prevention of Legionellosis Associated with Building Water Systems” will impact the healthcare industry.

Please describe the main drivers and factors that brought about ASHRAE’s attention to Legionellosis in the form of this developing standard.
ASHRAE first published a position statement about building-associated Legionellosis back in 1998. Then, in the year 2000, Guideline 12, Minimizing the Risk of Legionellosis Associated with Building Water Systems, was published. Both of these documents were in response to membership concern about this very significant problem.
In the U.S. every year, several hundred million dollars are spent on direct healthcare costs caused by the many thousands of cases that end up in hospitals. The indirect costs of these cases are at least an order of magnitude more.
The estimated number of deaths due to building-associated Legionellosis is 4,000 annually, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Legionellosis is by far the most significant building water system health-related issue today. There is a great deal of information about how to analyze and control the hazard that causes Legionellosis. However, there is almost nothing about what facility managers and owners should do with all that information.
ASHRAE Standard Project Committee 188 proposed that there should be a standard practice developed to specify what should be done with all of that informative information about how to control Legionella and thereby prevent Legionellosis.
“Standard 188P, Prevention of Legionellosis Associated with Building Water Systems,” is a standard practice specification for what to do.

From which entities is the standard’s committee drawing its expertise and input in the development of this standard?
The committee is comprised of 22 voting members and about 20 non-voting members. The roster includes the leading experts from academe and the industry. There are four members from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) who represent the core Legionellosis expertise from the CRC.
Two members are university professionals who have focused their 30-year careers academic on the subject. The manager at Ford Motor Co. who leads development of their corporate plan is also a voting member, and two members are from the U.S. General Services Administration.
Our members are also members of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, the American Society of Plumbing Engineers, the American Water Works Association, the American Society for Microbiology, and many other professional organizations.
Three of four voting members are world-class water treatment professionals and another four have spent many years in the industry. An additional four have dedicated their careers to the cooling water device manufacturing industries while several others are experts in analytical microbiology.
Our international voting member is from Australia and was the chair of the group that wrote standards for preventing Legionellosis in that country.

ASHE has described this standard as a “game change,” and you were quoted as saying that the standard’s implementation has the potential to prevent thousands of Legionellosis cases every year. Although the details are still being revised and developed, can you share a few highlights as to how the standard will potentially make such a significant impact, particularly in healthcare facilities?
The cause of Legionellosis and how to prevent it has been known for 30 years. As mentioned, there are at least 13 guidance documents in the U.S. already published and widely available, giving specifics about how to control the hazard that causes the disease.
But there is no specification for what to do with all of that information. ASHRAE Standard 188P provides that specification.

What do hospital owners need to know about this standard in anticipation of its implementation?
Hospital owners should know what is required to comply with the standard. As such, here is an executive summary:
“Compliance with Standard 188 requires that facility owners/managers establish a team with accountabilities and responsibilities that will develop a hazard analysis and control plan to prevent Legionellosis associated with their facility. The first job for the team is to describe the building water system using simple process flow diagrams of the potable and utility water systems. Each processing step in the building water system (such as for examples, heating, conditioning, filtering, etc.) must be named and numbered on the process flow diagrams. Then the team is required to perform systematic hazard analysis to indicate the potential risk at each step listed on the process flow diagrams, whether or not the risk is significant and what control could be applied at that step. Every step at which control is applied is to be designated a Critical Control Point. For every Critical Control Point, the team must establish critical limits, a monitoring plan and corrective actions for what to do if the critical limit is violated. Note that critical limits and monitoring refer to the control method applied (for example, the chlorine concentration or the temperature); critical limits do NOT refer to Legionella test results. Finally, the team must provide evidence that hazards have been controlled under operating conditions (this is called Validation) and the team must provide confirmation that the plan has actually been implemented (this is called Verification). Validation can include Legionella test results but other data are also acceptable such as disease surveillance. Verification should include all critical limit monitoring data, corrective action logs, meeting notes and supporting documents.”
Providing some more background on the standard, an article penned by McCoy and his colleague William E. Pearson, CWT, is available on his company’s website, Phigenics.


A SETRI no Brasil já realiza o processo de Avaliação de Risco pelo método HACCP e participou com opiniões no novo Standard 188P da ASHRAE.
Phigenics é um parceiro técnico da SETRI. 

25 de mai. de 2012

LEED EBOM - Legionella

A SETRI está disponível para ajudar no crédito 4.1 e 4.2.


22 de mai. de 2012

ASHRAE 188 Legionella SETRI

A SETRI realiza no Brasil Avaliação de Risco já com base na nova ASHRAE 188.
Utilizamos a mais de 3 anos o processo de Risk Assessment com base no processo HACCP.
Hoje o tema está sendo muito difundido nos Estados Unidos, já que a partir de sua publicação oficial em junho, será como uma lei.

"There is a new ASHRAE legionella standard rolling out this summer. ASHRAE Standard 188 will be the first U.S. risk management standard that establishes specific requirements for prevention of Legionnaires' disease associated with building water systems in all types of buildings. While there has not been much public attention about Legionnaires' disease in recent years, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Legionnaires disease cases have nearly tripled during the past ten years. To respond to this growing threat, ASHRAE will soon be issuing Standard 188; Prevention of Legionellosis Associated with Building Water Systems. The new standard will require that Facility and Property Managers implement stronger safeguards through pro-active risk assessment and risk management."

Standard 188 requires that the risk assessment team include persons with knowledge of Legionella and HACCP. This will likely require seeking outside consultation with professionals.
The standard is not a government law, but will have the force of law. It is important for building owners and mangers to pay attention to this standard. From a legal standpoint, it is serious more serious if you do not comply with this standard. A single case of Legionnaires' can dramatically affect the bottom line of any organization."
JoAnn Church, president of BOMA


SETRI Brasil - Risk Assessment for Legionella control

13 de mai. de 2012

Legionella confirmada nos chuveiros da Universidade Twente

Routine testing today have confirmed the presence of Legionella bacteria in the showers of the University of Twente (UT) Sports Centre. As a precautionary measure the Sports Centre has been immediately closed and will remain so today and tomorrow, in order to allow cleaning of the building water system and installation of new showers. An investigation over the cause for the Legionella bacteria is also underway.

For preventive measures, people who have recently used the Sports Centre showers will be notified by the University. Please note that Legionella bacteria risk to healthy individuals contact your doctor if you develop flu like symptoms such as fever, headaches, and muscle pain.

11 de mai. de 2012

Legionella longbeachae serogroup 1 infections linked to potting compost.

Four cases of legionellosis caused by Legionella longbeachae serogroup (sg) 1 were identified in Scotland from 2008 to 2010. All case patients had exposure to commercially manufactured growing media or potting soils, commonly known as multipurpose compost (MPC), in greenhouse conditions, prior to disease onset. Two patients had been using the same brand of MPC but the clinical isolates were distinct genotypically by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. However, an indistinguishable AFLP profile was also found in an environmental isolate from the supply of MPC used by each patient. The third patient was diagnosed by immunofluorescent antibody serology only; however, the MPC to which this patient was exposed contained L. longbeachae sg 1 in large quantities (80 000 c.f.u. g(-1)). The fourth patient was L. longbeachae sg 1 culture-positive, but L. longbeachae was not identified from 10 samples of garden composting material. As compost is commonly used, but L. longbeachae infection seemingly rare, further work is required to ascertain (i) the prevalence and predictors of L. longbeachae in compost and (ii) the conditions which facilitate transmission and generate an aerosol of the bacteria. As most cases of legionellosis are diagnosed by urinary antigen that is Legionella pneumophila-specific and does not detect infection with L. longbeachae, patients in cases of community-acquired pneumonia with a history of compost exposure should have serum and respiratory samples sent to a specialist Legionella reference laboratory for analysis.

GREENBUILDING BRASIL Conferência Internacional - 11 a 13 Setembro 2012

A SETRI estará presente, apresentando o tema "Legionella".


9 de mai. de 2012

Maryland Hotel Sued after Guest Contracts Legionnaire’s Disease


Tuesday, May 08, 2012
After six guests at Ocean City, MD’s historic Boardwalk hotel contracted Legionnaire’s disease last summer, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Worcester County Health Department confirmed the presence of Legionella in the hotel’s water system. Five months later, one of the six guests has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the hotel.
Extensive testing confirmed the presence of the Legionella bacteria in the building. Water samples were collected from various locations in the hotel.
The defendant in the suit required extensive hospitalization, including intubation for six weeks. He experienced renal failure, septic shock, and respiratory failure. Another guest passed away due to complications from the disease.
Legionnaires’ disease is a very serious form of pneumonia that results in long term health effects or a flu-like illness called Pontiac Fever. Most individuals become infected by inhaling Legionella bacteria from contaminated aerosolized water in air or from aspiration of contaminated water; it is not spread from person to person. The bacteria multiply in biofilm found in hot tubs, cooling towers, faucets, showerheads, and potable water systems.

Como podemos ver os casos são graves e custam muito dinheiro.

8 de mai. de 2012

Qualindoor - ABRAVA

                 Homenagem aos Past Presidents do Qualindoor


No último dia 18 de abril de 2012 o Qualindoor homenageou os Srs.: Charles Domingues (esquerda) e Henrique Cury (direita) pela intensa atuaçao como Presidente.

Charles atuou de abril de 2010 a maio de 2011, e Henrique Cury de maio de 2011 a abril de 2012.

Dois amigos que lutam a muito tempo para que possamos ter de fato uma boa Qualidade do Ar em Ambientes Climatizados.

2 de mai. de 2012

ASHRAE 188 - Prevention of Legionella - HACCP Process - SETRI



Já está sendo publicada pela ASHRAE o Standard 188 que trata do tema Legionella.
O processo indicado é o HACCP, utilizado pela SETRI desde 2008 em suas Avaliações de Risco (Risk Assessment).
Mais um esforço da comunidade científica e da própria ASHRAE de informar e alertar sobre os riscos da Legionella.