The indoor environment of a healthcare facility is crucial in promoting patient recovery, preventing the spread of infectious diseases, and providing a safe and comfortable workspace for healthcare professionals.
In this blog post, we provide the definition and benefits of a “healthy building.” We then dive into three key ways electrical construction can help support healthy building strategies in healthcare facilities.
Keep reading to learn more!
Simply put, a healthy building is a structure that is designed, built, and optimized in a way that promotes the health and well-being of its occupants. A healthy building, whether it be a school, office, lab, data center or healthcare facility, goes beyond just being aesthetically pleasing or functional but also considers factors such as air quality, lighting, temperature, access to nature, and more — all with the end goal of improving the mental and physical health of individuals and communities.
According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, there are 9 foundations of a healthy building:
Paying attention to these actionable core elements can help engineers and facility managers create the best healthy building strategy for their organization.
Clean rooms are enclosed spaces controlled against contaminants like dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles, or any other contaminants that can damage equipment, contaminate food and pharmaceutical products, and encourage the spread of viruses.
Clean rooms are specifically designed to provide the cleanest and safest area possible. They are essential to healthy buildings in various business sectors, including the industrial, manufacturing, food, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries.
We spend 90% of our time indoors — It’s no wonder we’re quickly realizing the countless benefits of incorporating healthy building strategies into our buildings.
The many benefits of a healthy building include:
At Lemberg, we have nearly a century of electrical construction experience. Contact us to see how our expert team can help make any healthcare, pharmaceutical, or medical facility safe, comfortable, and more efficient.
The design and construction of a building are essential in creating the best, most effective healthy building, such as designing a building with more natural light. Although, it’s essential not to overlook the importance of electrical construction.
Electrical construction is needed to integrate the automatic systems, cabling, and electrical maintenance plans that allow a healthcare facility to function as one reliable, “healthy” system. Below are three ways electrical construction can support healthy building strategies in healthcare facilities.
Building Automation Systems (BAS) integrate various building systems, such as HVAC, lighting, and security, into a single platform, allowing facility managers to monitor and control them from a centralized location. This integration enables a facility to optimize the indoor environment, improving patient comfort and staff productivity.
One significant contributing factor is the ability to integrate sensors and automated environmental controls that offer a touch-free experience (entryways, elevators, lighting, etc.), which helps minimize the exposure spread of infectious diseases.
Below are other examples of BAS solutions that can support healthy building strategies in healthcare facilities.
In addition, our data communications team can work with onsite IT specialists to ensure seamless network integration.
Bad weather is the most common cause of power outages, which can interrupt the important work of healthcare professionals and ultimately threaten the safety of patients. It’s essential that healthcare facilities in Wisconsin are prepared for the heavy snow, rain, and wind that come along with seasonal storms.
Having a reliable electrical system and implementing redundancy through emergency backup generators and an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) is essential to ensure ventilators, heart monitors, dialysis machines, and other critical medical equipment remain functional and provide quality care in any weather or situation. After all, there’s no point in implementing healthy building strategies in a healthcare facility if you can’t rely on these strategies to be effective during any situation or emergency.
A qualified electrician can recommend the right type of backup generator and UPS system with the capacity (voltage and amp-hour) rating to handle the load you need at your healthcare facility.
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Creating and implementing an electrical preventive maintenance (EPM) plan is important to support a healthy building strategy in healthcare facilities. Electrical systems and equipment exist in an ecosystem that requires regular attention to remain reliable and safe. Hiring a trusted electrical contractor trained to use infrared (IR) scanning technology to assess equipment performance and diagnose potential risks is one of the best ways to ensure all electrical systems continue to operate at peak performance.
A well-executed preventive maintenance plan can help reduce energy costs, improve equipment lifespan, and promote a safer environment for patients, staff, and visitors. Contact Lemberg today to learn about how our extensive EPM services can help improve your healthy building strategies.
Lemberg is a full-service electrical, design-build, and prefabrication electrical construction contractor serving Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin for nearly 100 years. We are proud to play a hand in keeping our community safe by offering the best electrical solutions for implementing safe and effective healthy building strategies in healthcare facilities.
Check out our healthcare facility projects here!
Our team of electricians and data technicians will go above and beyond when working with your hospital or healthcare facility's building management team to ensure the work gets done inconspicuously and safely.We will adjust hours, put up physical barriers, stay unobtrusive as possible, and keep our work areas clean.
Whether you’re looking to improve system performance with electrical maintenance, integrate a new electrical system to enhance safety or install custom digital or wayfinding specialty signage to help boost the overall morale and experience of your healthcare facility’s occupants, we are your one-stop trusted Milwaukee-area healthy building contractor.
Contact us today to learn more about how Lemberg can help implement the best healthy building strategies in your healthcare facility!