The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) announced this week that it is establishing a Task Force on reducing the enormous health burden from COVID-19 and other respiratory infections. Its goal is to define the critical role buildings, organizations and communities play in prevention and preparedness, resilience and recovery. The Task Force’s work will take a broad approach, considering both new and recurring infectious agents that can affect large populations.
The task force will include experts from public health, government, academia and philanthropy, as well as the architecture, design and real estate communities.
“IWBI’s work centres on providing evidence-backed solutions that advance better health and well-being in the places and spaces where we spend our lives,” said IWBI Chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi. “The creation of this Task Force provides a mechanism to focus on this immediate challenge and collect and apply the expertise and insight of our global community, which includes practicing physicians, environmental and behavioural scientists, leading design practitioners and innovation leaders from global corporations.”
“The aim of the Task Force is twofold,” said IWBI President Rachel Gutter. “First, to identify and develop a set of signature deliverables and resources, including guidelines for individuals, organizations and communities to help them better integrate actionable insights and proven strategies into how they manage both their buildings and their organizations. Second, the Task Force will assess ways in which the WELL Building Standard (WELL) itself can be further strengthened so the system, which touches more than a half-billion square feet of space across 58 countries, can best continue to support prevention and preparedness, resiliency and recovery in this critical moment and into the future.”
More information about the Task Force and how individuals can raise their hands to get involved can be found here.
To find more content on how to deal with the health burden of COVID-19, click here.
Content Team
Work in Mind is a content platform designed to give a voice to thinkers, businesses, journalists and regulatory bodies in the field of healthy buildings.
