RAFAEL CASTRO MONTES DE OCA
ARQUITECTOS
INTRODUCTION
In recent days, the scientific advisory ad-hoc committee appointed by the Governor of Puerto Rico, THE COVID-19 TASK FORCE, presented its Final Recommendation for the plan to structure a phased opening of the economic activity in Puerto Rico. According to this plan, every administrator, supervisor and business owner, be it a small scale business or a large scale one, has to : • Evaluate and Assess the daily functions of all its employees within each Work Environment. • Evaluate and Assess the daily interactions between all its employees, and those of the employees and its clients. With this detailed evaluation, business will have to develop and implement a series of necessary strategies of reconfiguring the physical space of their work environments in order to assure the safety of both their employees and clients considering the following elements :
SOCIAL DISTANCING
Basic concepts at all times during the workday, assuring SUFFICIENT SPACE between and EMPLOYEES and BETWEEN EMPLOYEES AND CLIENTS.
PROTECTION EQUIPMENT
Procurement of appropriate PERSONAL PROTECTION EQUIPMENT for all EMPLOYEES.
CLEANING AND SANITIZING PROTOCOLS Assure a CLEAN WORKING ENVIRONMENT at all times and are appropriate to the RISK LEVEL OF VIRUS INFECTION that each SPECIFIC BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT poses.
WHAT IS SAFER/ SPACE ™
Is a Professional Design Service developed by RCMdO ARQUITECTOS, P.S.C., tailored to businesses of all scales and types, that have a common need to restructure their work environments to allow their operations to resume, minimizing the risk of contagion through the implementation of the latest guidelines by THE COVID-19 TASK FORCE, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The National Health Institute (NHI), The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
SAFER/ SPACE™ will aid your specific business to achieve these goals by:
Analyzing the existing physical configuration of your specific work environment in order to identify the changes in workstation configuration, new employee/client traffic routing and new components, markings and accessories that need to be installed so that your existing workspace complies with the latest guidelines published by the OSHA, CDC, WHO and other applicable local health agencies, in order to minimize the risk of virus propagation and infection among employees + clients. Analyzing the daily functions + interactions of your employees among themselves and with clients in order to develop protocols that will assure social distancing guidelines are met at all times during each workday. Analyzing the existing air conditioning distribution system to identify sanitizing protocols and/or filtering strategies, consistent with the latest ASHRAE COVID-19 GUIDELINES, that will reduce its role in virus propagation in the work environment.
3. SAFER/ SPACE™ Components
Protective measures have been broken down to the following spatial components.
A. Disinfection & Sanitizing
• Work Place Environment
• Furniture/Workspace surfaces
• General surfaces:
Light switches, door knobs, etc.
• Ventilation system:
Ductwork cleanup
Adjust % of outdoor air circulating the system
• Daily Sanitary Cleaning Protocol for:
• Entrance, vestibule, etc
• Workspace surfaces, objects, etc
• Restrooms
• Kitchenette/Break Room
B. Safer Distancing
• 6 feet between employees
• Furniture/seating separation & Barriers
• Circulation
• Flexible/Staggered layout configurations
C. Record Tracking
• Daily Registry of personnel & visitors
Disclaimer:
These guidelines contain recommendations intended to assist employers in providing a safer office space. They are not official regulated standards. Sources: www.cdc.com & www.who.int
RE-THINKING THE WORKSPACE
