Facilities maintains buildings in alignment with WorkSafeBC and the Provincial Health Officer requirements, which includes air quality monitoring as one component of our health and safety plan; we will adjust operations should there be a change in direction based on emerging circumstances or new information. We are closely following guidelines as set out in the Return to Campus Guidelines.
Our current air filter systems meet minimum MERV 13** rating as recommended by the ASHRAE. MERV 13 filters provide a high rate of efficiency for filtering smaller virus particles, such COVID-19, carried through respiratory droplets and droplet nuclei (dried respiratory droplets). Our HVAC systems ensure that filtered air-exchange is performed, providing clean air within buildings, and do not rely on windows for fresh air and to effectively filter particles from the air.
In comparison to other post-secondary facilities and buildings – we have advanced HVAC systems in our buildings. As part of our regular upgrades related to sustainability, we have been proactively upgrading our buildings’ HVAC systems over many years. Building A was completely retrofit in 2018 with CO2 sensors in classrooms to monitor the outdoor air in these spaces.
College buildings are run by our engineering team via our DDC System (Direct Digital Controls). We use this real-time digital dashboard to control our entire system and ensure everything is working as it should.
In Fall 2020, before we returned to campus, Langara College’s engineering team worked with consultants from Integral Group to do a secondary review of our mechanical systems to see if further measures were required before we came back to campus at full occupancy. This included a detailed assessment of individual teaching and classroom spaces’ ventilation systems of varying size, location, and occupancy limits. Our Engineers implemented most of the measures recommended in the attached report including increasing outdoor air and ensuring that we are using MERV 13 filtration.
As the outside temperatures go down our systems will be unable to bring in 100% outdoor air, so on the recommendations of this report from Integral Group, we have added portable HEPA filters to areas where they were only able to hit a minimum standard when the temperatures hit lows. We have also added an early morning flush of outdoor air before everyone is on campus and between classes.
These measures, in addition to other health and safety measures outlined in our communicable disease plan, help keep our campus a healthy and safe learning environment.
*American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
**MERV = Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value