Pandemic Action Plan

The following is an action plan to be formulated by policy makers. Facility managers for whom I have great respect and with whom I have 47 years of experience are not policy makers; they are the executors of policies.

This plan is useful to all public facility owners except hospitals, outpatient treatment facilities, and surgical centers. A plethora of government and industry regulations and guidelines govern these medical entities along with the requirements of their respective liability insurance underwriters. These medical facilities are regularly inspected to assure appropriate pressurization, ventilation, filtration, relative humidity control to prevent and/or minimize the opportunity to spread infections. The policies governing these facilities are not promulgated by facility engineers but by policy makers governing the operation of these facilities.

Maintaining a healthy indoor climate during seasons of epidemics and pandemics with the goal of remaining open and fully in operation necessarily requires cooperation between public facility owners and governments. Governments must balance the duties to secure natural rights (Declaration of Independence) with promoting the general welfare (Preamble to the Constitution).

As depicted in the process flow chart, under emergency conditions, governments will direct facility owners and government property managers to specific actions that may or may not actually address the threatening pathogen of the day. The way to overcome uninformed or low-information governing authorities entails self education, education of others, and the principle of appeal to authority.

It is said, before you can teach a dog tricks, you must know more than the dog. This principle applies to teaching customers, staff, and government officials. You will not successfully teach a subject you do not know.

A resource titled Managing Indoor Air Quality to Keep America Open is a knowledge resource on creating and maintaining a safe indoor environment in any building.

As mentioned in another article, hospitals, outpatient clinics, and surgical centers already have well-planned, documented procedures and processes to maintain safe indoor environments at all times, during all epidemics and pandemics.

John White
Rockwall, Texas