OSHA Mask Standards Still Not Issued

Universities Need to Consider the Longer Term Safety Practices

Ecolab Provides Seal of Approval for Safety at Six Supermarket Chains

Open Salad Bars and Infection Prevention

Many Supermarkets are Suspending Salad Bar Sales Due to COVID Fears

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OSHA Mask Standards Still Not Issued

The OSHA Covid-19 standard will, unfortunately, face implementation challenges due to the late stage in the pandemic in which it is occurring. The standard will likely meet resistance from frustrated business owners who are desperately trying to preserve their livelihoods, one year into the pandemic. It is critical that the Biden Administration finds a way to work with business owners to prevent another wave of infections amongst the largely unvaccinated labor force.                                        

The exact details of the rule have not yet been released, passing by the initial March 15 deadline set for OSHA by the executive order issued in January. However, current guidance issued by OSHA on January 29 advises; mask-wearing, regular testing, physical distancing, and better ventilation, routine cleaning and disinfecting, hazard assessment, and minimizing the burden on employees who need to quarantine through remote work or paid leave amongst other strategies. These guidelines are currently optional but likely to inform the binding standard which would give OSHA more power to levy fines against employers who don’t follow the CDC’s safety precautions.                       

 

Universities Need to Consider the Longer Term Safety Practices

Campuses with sustainability commitments likely haven’t thought all that much about sustainability in the past year. Pushing through the pandemic and holding classes safely had to be the priority.

With vaccines rolling out, administrators and student groups alike may be starting to wonder: What is the environmental cost of all this infection control? Which COVID-19 prevention measures should we keep in the long term and which may hinder our sustainability goals? these are questions addressed by Richard Loveland, P.E. ,vice president of BVH Integrated Services,  Michael B. Tyre, AIA, LEED AP,  principal at Amenta Emma Architects 

A typical HVAC system might combine approximately 20% outside air with 80% recirculated air. When information about how COVID-19 spreads came to light, many campuses looked to increase the outside air percentage.

Typical HVAC design provides some flexibility for the amount of outside air the system can handle. Often, an existing HVAC system can be configured to bring in about 10-15% more fresh air, but the energy cost can be significant and occupant comfort may be compromised.

Maximizing the outside input to a standard HVAC system could result in higher energy consumption except on particularly temperate days. As a result, it’s best for sustainability purposes to return ventilation systems to their design settings once the pandemic subsides.

On temperate days or in temperate climates, there is one very cost-effective way to get 100 percent fresh air: Outdoor learning.

Many campuses developed outdoor learning spaces during COVID-19 and, in fact, outdoor-instruction areas were a rising trend in higher education before the pandemic. These spaces add vibrance to campuses and can be as simple as contours in patios or courtyards that allow for seating or writing.

Last year, administrators across the country suddenly had to become air-filtration experts and learn about MERV ratings, which is how the effectiveness of air filters is measured. MERV 13 seems to be a good start for limiting the aerosols that spread COVID-19.

If your campus made air-filtration upgrades during COVID-19, you may be thinking, “Clean air is good, what’s the harm of leaving this in place?”

The stronger the filter, the harder HVAC systems have to work to push or pull air through it. This can increase the energy consumption and reduce the performance of the system.

MERV 13 filters are required in many different occupancy types. Stronger air filters are typically the providence of hospitals, labs, or other spaces that require a high level of filtration.

UV systems have been another common upgrade to HVAC systems. While UV light can deactivate the virus on surfaces, the effectiveness of UV systems on airborne particles should be reviewed before installing a system. UV systems can add a significant electrical load to the system as well.

“One of the things that concerned us as we adapted to COVID-19 was our lack of knowledge about our physical assets,” says Keenan Chenail, planning, design and construction project manager project manager at Williams College. The Massachusetts school had been planning to take a detailed survey of its buildings, furniture and infrastructure when the pandemic hit.

Williams College has a deeply held commitment to sustainability, Chenail says. But like with every other school across the country, that simply couldn’t be a priority as testing sites were set up in parking garages or tents.

“Knowing how furniture could be reconfigured or the specs of every HVAC system would have given us a head start on our response,” Chenail adds. “That said, everyone at Williams came together to bring our students back to campus and we had a very successful fall semester.”

Living through COVID-19 will give a whole generation of administrators new questions to ask as they take on development projects. Whether it’s a pandemic, a storm or something else we haven’t thought of yet, how is it going to work when a gym needs to be something other than a gym?

Designing for flexibility will enable campuses to avoid making tough calls that compromise sustainability in the future.

The observations by Loveland and Tyre relate to decision making which can be measured in terms of life quality. After COVID is vanquished what will be the  harm and good from higher efficiency air filtration. On the negative size the higher efficiency comes at higher energy cost. This requires an investment which could be made for other initiatives which affect life quality.  The higher energy results in more CO2.  This in turn will result in more climate warming and affect life quality 50 years from now

On the positive side there will be less transmission of colds and flu. At the height of a cold or flu the individual may feel sick enough to wish that the remaining hours of misery would just disappear. In effect he is saying he would be willing to shorten his life by a few days to avoid having to cope with a bad cold. The willingness rises with more negative experiences such as appendicitis, or days of grief over loss of a loved one.

The days of grief avoided by loss of loved one can be linked to COVID and the avoidance of parental grief if a student dies from HVAC transmitted disease. Many parents would be willing to sacrifice many years of life to avoid death of children.

This determination of an individual of reducing an 85 year life by a few days of colds provides a metric entitled quality enhanced life days which can measure any aspect of building air quality investment.

We are now learning that in cities such as St Louis where PM 2.5 levels are low this can be misleading.  New metal monitors have revealed that lead content in the particulate varies considerably depending on wind direction. 

These small lead particles will be caught in more efficient HVAC systems. The life quality might be measured in prolonging the life of students for a few days or weeks over their life time.   

 

Ecolab Provides Seal of Approval for Safety at Six Supermarket Chains

With COVID-19 still a big concern to shoppers, six supermarket chains from across the country have joined the Ecolab Science Certified program to bring a “seal of approval” to public health and safety conditions at their stores. 

With the move, Ingles Markets, Brookshire’s Food & Pharmacy, Cub Foods, Coborn’s, Bristol Farms and Lazy Acres have committed to “rigorous” cleaning protocols, training and audits to earn the Ecolab Science Certified seal, Ecolab Inc. said yesterday. The St. Paul, Minn.-based company is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services to businesses in the food, health care, hospitality and industrial markets.

The Ecolab Science Certified program combines advanced chemistries with public health and food safety training, as well as periodic auditing, to help the food retailers achieve a higher level of cleanliness amid health and safety challenges and new consumer expectations amid the coronavirus crisis and other emerging pathogens, according to Ecolab. By passing Ecolab’s independent audit and adhering to the program guidelines, the grocery chains will be able to display the official Ecolab Science Certified seal at their combined 475-plus store locations.

Brookshire Grocery Co.

Visible signs of health and safety practices, such as this Brookshire's associate donning a face mask and gloves, are a key element of the Ecolab Science Certified program for food retailers.

 
“The safety of our customers and associates has been of paramount importance to Ingles since the outbreak of the pandemic last year,” Ron Freeman, chief financial officer at Asheville, N.C.-based Ingles Markets, which operates 197 supermarkets in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama. “The Ecolab Science Certified program allows us to demonstrate our commitment to rigorous, science-based cleaning protocols, training and audits to our customers and associates. The program is an important part of our overall standards to help provide a safer and cleaner shopping experience and workplace by reducing the risk of exposure to germs, including the COVID-19 virus.” 

The Science Certified program incorporates Ecolab’s expertise in helping keep hospitals, grocery stores, restaurants, hotels and other businesses clean. It employs the company’s science-based solutions and insights from a global team of 1,200 scientists, with audits performed by Ecolab specialists. 

In grocery stores, restaurants and hotels, key elements of the Ecolab Science Certified program include the use of hospital disinfectants and food-contact sanitizers — approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use against COVID-19 virus and other pathogens — and elevated hygiene standards and protocols based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, according to Ecolab. Detailed public health and food safety training and regular auditing by Ecolab personnel ensure that public health and food safety practices are being followed, while front-of-house cleaning and disinfecting and the Ecolab Science Certified seal provide a visible sign of “cleaner, safer practices” to customers, the company said.

Proprietary consumer research conducted in May found that 72% of frequent grocery shoppers feel “very safe” or “extremely safe” knowing that hospital-grade disinfectants were being used in stores, Ecolab reported. Consumers also expressed greater feelings of safety knowing that a store’s cleaning and disinfecting practices are verified by an independent auditor with cleaning expertise. And an Ecolab survey last month revealed that 95% of consumers want “as much or more” cleaning and sanitation practices where they eat, stay and shop even after a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.

Part of the Brookshire Grocery Co., Brookshire’s operates over 180 stores in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. In the Midwest, Cub Foods — a unit of grocery distributor United Natural Foods Inc. — has 79 locations in Minnesota and Illinois, and Coborn’s operates more than 60 supermarkets in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas. And In Southern California, gourmet grocer Bristol Farms has 14 locations from Santa Barbara to Palm Desert, while natural food market Lazy Acres fields five stores from Santa Barbara to San Diego. 

“Through the Ecolab Science Certified program, we’re helping our customers recalibrate to meet higher standards throughout the industry,” commented Adam Johnson, vice president and general manager of Ecolab’s global food retail business. “We look forward to helping these leading food retailers build consumer confidence as they implement our comprehensive program.” 

Open Salad Bars and Infection Prevention

Open salad bars make it easy to customize your own salad for a healthy meal, but is that salad actually safe for your health?

This was a question answered by a food safety expert back in 2015. But now there are some additional questions.  One has to be about COVID transmission. But another has to do with the benefits of masks and better HVAC.  If those stocking the salad bar wear masks and the stores have improved HVAC the contamination of exposed foods will be reduced.

These are procedures which should be incorporated even after COVID is vanquished. In the meantime the fact that shoppers are also wearing tight fitting efficient masks will also reduce contamination.
 
In 2015 Samantha McDowell, a food safety and nutrition agent for Clemson Extension, said several factors go into ensuring salad bars don't become a source of a foodborne illness.
 
"People think of outbreaks as mass, large groups of people, but in actuality, it only has to be two or more," McDowell said.
 
McDowell teaches the eight hour class the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control requires for food safety certification.
 
She said even cold raw foods can be as risky as hot cooked foods if they're stored at an improper temperature.
 
WMBF News put some salad to the test to see if it's as safe as it should be. We went to four different local grocery stores with open salad bars to collect food samples. We divided the salad bar into four categories, so we could test a wide variety of items: leafy greens, raw vegetables, cooked meats and mayonnaise-based salads.
 
Fifteen samples were then packed up in a cooler and shipped overnight to IEH Laboratories outside of Seattle.
 
IEH Laboratories CEO Dr. Mansour Samadpour explained the results. The lab tested every sample for E. coli, listeria and salmonella, which all came back negative.
 
The lab then tested for the number of microbes in one gram of food. Dr. Samadpour said those microbes can either be harmful to humans causing illness, beneficial to humans actually helping the digestive tract, harmful to the food causing spoilage or inconsequential.
 
The leafy greens samples all showed up as having a larger number of microbes, more than 1,000,000 colony forming units per gram, or CFU/g. Dr. Samadpour said this is the result of the greens having a larger surface area and being raw, so they contain more of those microbes than food that has been cooked, such as potato salad.

The lab also tested for a wider variety of E. coli, which Dr. Samadpour said can also be harmful or beneficial to humans. This is a food industry indicator of food quality and safety. All of the samples passed the test.
 
Another industry standard for quality and safety is total coliform. Dr. Samadpour said experts would generally like to see the number of colony forming units per gram of total coliform under 200.
 
One of the leafy green samples contained 80,000 CFU/g. Another had 13,000 CFU/g. The other two samples contained fewer than 10 CFU/g.
 
Three of the four raw vegetable samples also tested high for total coliform: a mix of carrots, broccoli and celery contained 35,000 CFU/g, a sample of tomatoes, carrots and banana peppers showed up at 6,000 CFU/g and a combination of broccoli, carrots, cucumbers had 1,000 CFU/g. The fourth sample, a mixture of cucumbers, peppers and broccoli had under 10 CFU/g.
 
All of the mayonnaise-based salads were well within the acceptable total coliform range in addition to all but one protein sample, which had 13,000 CFU/g.
 
The lab also tested for yeast and mold counts, which also aren't necessarily harmful, Dr. Samadpour said.
 
Dr. Samadpour said people need to understand food isn't really sterile, especially when it's being handled and processed.
 
He said the total coliform test is an outdated form of measurement, but it's still being used in the food safety industry.
 
He said 80,000 CFU/g isn't a total coliform level experts want to see from a food quality standpoint, but it wouldn't actually make people sick because the individual pathogens were all negative.
 
McDowell said any restaurant or grocery store with a salad bar is instructed on how to prevent germs from falling into the food.
 
"Generally each food bar should have an employee that's there monitoring to make sure people aren't coming up with dirty plates, so they're using a clean plate every time, that you don't have terrorist acts or people trying to deliberately contaminate the salad bar," McDowell said.
 
The glass covering and countertop serve a greater purpose of protecting the salad bar from the bacteria customers bring in with them.
 
Customers also transfer germs to tongs, which McDowell said are supposed to be changed out every four hours. She recommends trading out the tongs even more frequently.
 
"Any kind of germs just from people's hands that are on that that can get into the food, if they're changing them out regularly that can help regulate some of that," she said.
 
Controlling temperature is also important to prevent pathogens from growing.
 
"Like your TCS foods, which are time and temperature controlled for safety, pathogens grow anywhere between the temperatures of 41 degrees to 135," McDowell said.
 
McDowell said she thinks DHEC's requirements are effective and most food service establishments are doing what they're supposed to in order to keep salad bars safe.
 

Many Supermarkets are Suspending Salad Bar Sales Due to COVID Fears

Moving to the present the concern is about COVID spread. A quick and convenient lunch option may be going the way of the dinosaur because of COVID-19. The supermarket salad bar, sold by weight and created and dished up by you, can be, according to some health officials, a hot bed for the spread of the virus.

The virus, experts fear, can live on uncovered foods and on serving implements. Even the sneeze guard cannot protect you from the virus.

Spread primarily by almost invisible drops of respiratory fluid from coughing, talking and sneezing, COVID-19 has changed many things, and supermarket management teams are for the most part choosing to suspend salad bar sales for the time being.