maintaining a high level of confidence that patients and workers will not be harmed during the process.

Reliable airflow control can provide flexibility of control for optimum environments for all your buildings’ occupants’ environmental case law. Renovation-related SBS damages appear as one of the largest sources of successful IAQ claims.

Litigation and Liability

Engineers carry insurance to cover Errors and Omissions and General Liability, but are most Mechanical Engineers, building owners and operators protected against the costs of defending themselves in IAQ litigation? Regardless of any potential costs for damages or remediation, which can approach the cost of the original structure, it is still very expensive, even if you WIN.

With the continuing public focus and litigation on indoor air quality issues, IAQ "business" is a growth industry. You can combine this with the growing belief by employees that they are "owed" a safe and comfortable working environment. Many of those employees feel that civil litigation involving third parties is their only recourse, when shown the limitations of claims against their employers within Workmen's Compensation laws. This makes HVAC engineers, service contractors, construction subcontractors, property management companies and building owners the biggest targets.

Most comprehensive general liability policies contain "Pollution Exclusion" clauses, which usually contain the following language:

"This insurance does not apply to:

Bodily injury or property damage arising out of the discharge, dispersal, release or escape of smoke, vapor, soot, fumes, acids, alkalis, toxic chemicals, liquids or gasses, waste material or other irritants, contaminants…..but this exclusion does not apply if such discharge, dispersal, release or escape is sudden and accidental."

Courts are somewhat split on the application of this clause to Building Related Illness / Sick Building Syndrome (BRI/SBS) claims. They are not as split on the application of the "Absolute Pollution Exclusion" clause. They are also split on the definition of "pollutant". However, you can assume that about 50% of state courts apply this boiler-plate clause to claims involving indoor pollutants, putting the entire cost for a legal defense directly on the shoulders of the building owner – regardless of any subsequent court decision.

Energy

Adequate ventilation is a critical component of design and management practices needed for good IAQ. Yet, the energy required to run the ventilation system constitutes about “half of a building’s energy cost”. The impact of maintaining a more accurate rate of dilution ventilation, as delivered to the occupied space, must be considered.

In April 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the findings of a their study entitled Energy Cost and IAQ Performance of Ventilation Systems and Controls. The methodology used in their project has been to refine and adapt the DOE-2.1E building energy analysis computer program for the specific needs of the study, and to generate a detailed database on the: energy use, indoor climate, and outdoor air flow rates of various buildings, ventilation systems and outdoor air control strategies. Some of their most important conclusions regarding Variable Air Volume (VAV) and Constant Volume (CV) air system designs are detailed below.

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