Page 8 - NY Cooperator November 2020

8 THE COOPERATOR — NOVEMBER 2020 COOPERATOR.COM We handle all sprinkler system inspections and violations. • Sprinkler System Design and Installation • Maintenance, repair and service • Flow and Pressure tests • Violation Removals • Monthly Inspections • Stand Pipes and Fire Pumps Big Apple Fire Sprinkler Co. Inc. 64-20 Laurel Hill Blvd. Woodside NY 11377 • 718-205-8580 • Fax 718-205-4590 Email: alevitt@bigapplesprinkler.com = Big Apple Fire Sprinkler_Oct2011.qxp:Layout 1 9/20/11 2:07 PM Page 1 sional) that the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is by washing your hands with plain soap and water for at least 20 seconds, exposed to the virus, but they are also exposed hand sanitizing products can again be found to any toxic effects of the cleaning chemicals on store shelves and online retailers. They’ve they’re using, and should therefore wear ap- also become a fixture in co-ops, condos, and propriate personal protective equipment other multifamily properties—usually placed (PPE) and be properly trained on any new conspicuously in common locations where products or protocols—both for their safety, residents, visitors, vendors, and staff don’t have and that of residents. Information on concerns access to a sink. Why is this important? While the corona- virus is transmitted mainly through respira- tory droplets expelled when an infected per- son is talking, sneezing, coughing, singing, or trolprevention.html. the like, it can also be acquired when someone touches a surface that has the virus on it and then touches their nose, mouth, or eyes. So washing one’s hands not only helps prevent the virus from transmitting from a surface to a person, it also prevents a person from leaving viral bodies on a surface where they can infect other people. Beyond Soap & Sanitizer Unfortunately, it’s hard to trust that every- one coming into contact with our communi- ties is washing their hands with the recom- mended frequency and duration—so the next (ASHRAE) has therefore developed indoor air level of sanitation is to wash those surfaces management strategies aimed to reduce occu- regularly and safely. Again, according to health pant exposure to infectious aerosols. agencies, regular soap and water should be employed for keeping surfaces clean—as well climate where a building is located, whether as looking nice, which is always an important it uses a forced-air system for HVAC, and consideration in residential communities with other building-specific features, but generally, shared common spaces. Following a thorough washing, surfaces can dential Team Lead for ASHRAE’s Epidemic be disinfected using a variety of products, each Task Force, “Central systems in any homes with its own instructions for safe and effective give more options for doing filtration. Homes handling and use. While these products are without central forced air systems may need known to kill viruses that are physically tough- er than the one that causes COVID-19 when apartments with common centralized ven- used properly, according to the CDC, they are tilation systems, it is important to make sure only as effective as their timing of application that air from one apartment cannot flow to relative to when the virus was transferred to a another. Fortunately, most \[building\] codes in given surface. If high-touch surfaces are only the U.S. do not allow this.” cleaned once a day, it doesn’t matter how effec- tive your products are; multiple people could stock does not have centralized HVAC sys- have put down or picked up viral particles in tems, but instead use radiators to heat in the the hours between wipe-downs. Therefore, winter and window-mounted or through-wall boards and managers of multifamily commu- nities have implemented robust schedules of dows—to cool in the summer. In fact, those cleaning and disinfection of high-touch sur- faces and frequently used common areas, such ing windows and running A/C are year-round as railings, elevator buttons, laundry facilities, “thermal comfort mechanisms” (to borrow mailboxes, door knobs, and lightswitches. According to the CDC, there are a variety sized energy cost, to be sure, but also might of considerations to factor in when deter- mining which disinfectant product to use on which surfaces, and when. Porous surfaces re- quire different types and methods of applica- tion from non-porous surfaces. Outdoor en- vironments pose less risk of transmission, and apartment, then their virus-containing aerosol therefore do not necessarily need additional particles can get into the corridor to spread the disinfection after routine cleaning. Disinfec- tants should not be used on objects or surfaces in larger apartment buildings are required to touched by children—especially objects or be pressurized to keep that situation from hap- surfaces that children can put in their mouths. pening, \[but\] if someone opens their window Caution must be taken with indoor use of dis- infectants that produce dangerous fumes or other toxic effects. It’s also crucially important to look out for your staff. Custodians, supers, and other peo- ple who are carrying out the cleaning or disin- fecting are not only at increased risk of being related to cleaning staff can be found on the Occupational Safety and Health Administra- tion’s (OSHA’s) website on Control and Pre- vention: www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/con- Surface to Air The aeresolized transmission of coronavi- rus presents another consideration for mul- tifamily properties. Viral particles can linger in and travel through the air in respiratory droplets—including through heating, ventila- tion, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems of a multifamily building, or through the airflow systems that are designed to mitigate spread of smoke and fire between and into apart- ments. The American Society of Heating, Re- frigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers Recommendations vary depending on the according to Professor Max Sherman, Resi- to use more portable air cleaner options. In Much of New York City’s older housing air conditioning units—or simply open win- of us who live in such units know that open- the industry’s term). That method has an out- have virus-spreading potential as well. “The issue here,” explains Sherman, “is that we don’t want air to move from an indi- vidual apartment to the corridor. Because if there happens to be an infected person in that infection to the larger community. Corridors and a lot of air blows in from that window, it CLEANING... continued from page 1