Healthcare Facilities
ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.6

The ASHRAE Handbook is published in a series of four volumes, one of which is revised each year, ensuring that no volume is older than four years.

TC 9.6 is responsible for this chapter in the ASHRAE HVAC APPICATIONS Handbook:

Health Care Facilities
Continual advances in medicine and technology necessitate constant reevaluation of the air-conditioning needs of hospitals and medical facilities. Medical evidence shows that proper air conditioning is helpful in preventing and treating many conditions, and ventilation requirements exist to protect against harmful occupational exposures. Although the need for clean and conditioned air in health care facilities is high, the relatively high cost of air conditioning demands efficient design and operation to ensure economical energy management.

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Technical committees develop and sponsor technical sessions at the winter and annual conferences. Information about their future technical program is discussed at each TC meeting and at the TC’s Program Subcommittee meeting.

ASHRAE publishes papers and transactions from presentations at its conference events. In addition, ASHRAE records most of the seminar sessions from its conferences on DVD. These DVDs are ideal for use at chapter meetings, in university courses, or company lunch and learns. Products available from the most recent conference may be found here.

Technical Committees are responsible for identifying research topics, proposing research projects, selecting bidders, and monitoring research projects funded by ASHRAE. Information about their specific research program is discussed at each TC meeting and at the TC’s Research Subcommittee meeting.

TC 9.6 is cosponsoring the following research project with TC 5.11, Humidifying Equipment:
1630-RP: UPDATE THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR SPECIFYING LOWER LIMIT RELATIVE HUMIDITY LEVELS FOR COMFORT, HEALTH AND IEQ IN OCCUPIED SPACES
To determine and quantify the effect of low level of relative humidity (10-40%) on the comfort, health, and IEQ for humans in residences and non-industrial workplaces, including adolescents and the population over 65 years old. The project will entail comprehensive literature review, detailed data analysis, developing conclusions and recommendations, and preparation of the final report.

ASHRAE writes standards for the purpose of establishing consensus for: 1) methods of test for use in commerce and 2) performance criteria for use as facilitators with which to guide the industry. ASHRAE publishes the following three types of voluntary consensus standards: Method of Measurement or Test (MOT), Standard Design and Standard Practice. ASHRAE does not write rating standards unless a suitable rating standard will not otherwise be available. ASHRAE is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and follows ANSI's requirements for due process and standards development. Standards may be purchased at the ASHRAE Bookstore.

TC 9.6 is cognizant for the following standards:

ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170: Ventilation of Health Care Facilities

Proposed Standard 189.3 (formerly 189.2): Design, Construction and Operation of Sustainable High Performance Health Care Facilities

End Use Energy Study
The Dallas Energy Subcommittee program included a presentation on the Hospital End Use energy monitoring program funded by National Renewable Energy labs. The completed report is available at the link below.

Report of the End Use Energy Study

Check the Minutes page for the subcommittee's draft minutes from the Atlanta meeting. Please join us at our next meeting at the ASHRAE annual meeting in Kansas City.

TC 9.6 participates in the following multidisciplinary task group:

BUILDING DAMPNESS
MTG.BD will develop a definition of a damp building and an assessment protocol to assess building dampness in accordance with recommendation 3 of the ASHRAE Board of Directors’ 2013 position document titled Limiting Indoor Mold and Dampness in Buildings. The group will also propose research to test the practicality, utility and cost-effectiveness of the protocol, and oversee that research if such is approved.

ASHRAE Technical FAQs are provided as a service to ASHRAE members, users of ASHRAE publications, and the general public. While every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy and reliability, they are advisory and provided for informational purposes only, and in many cases represent only one person’s view. They are not intended and should not be relied on as an official statement of ASHRAE. Technical questions not addressed may be submitted to the ASHRAE Technical Services department at tse@ashrae.net.

What are the proper pressure relationships between different areas in a health care facility? (81)

What are the recommended air changes and ventilation air in health care facilities? (82)

Does ASHRAE publish guidance related to the role of HVAC systems in the transmission of airborne infectious diseases? (100)