The foundation of the Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI) was announced in 2011. With an advisory board of leaders and scientists in the indoor environmental field, the launch enjoyed a warm welcome by both the public and experts alike. It attempts to provide authoritative information for creating and maintaining clean, healthy indoor environments. HFI features news, discussions, scientific studies, articles and expert commentaries, providing information as a free service to the public.
- Promotion of Safety and Healthiness in Facilities
HFI covers a wide variety of facilities, from healthcare facilities to hotels, offices, restaurants, schools and colleges, retails, and industrial sites. All elements of the inside of a building are addressed: the flooring, carpets, walls, furnishing, lighting system, water system, ect.
Since buildings are ecosystems, HFI works to address the many interrelated aspects of built environments as an integrated or holistic system. It discusses the issues of air, sound, heating, fire safety, ventilation, water, energy, materials and resources, green cleaning, indoor environmental quality, waste management, cleaning small kitchen items, among others.
HFI also emphasizes the prevention and removal of pollutants or contaminants, addressing the topics of dust, mold, and indoor contaminants.
- Education for the Occupants
Not only the facilities themselves, but also the occupants and visitors can contribute to the safety and healthiness of the environment. With that understanding, HFI offers solutions for enterprises and organizations to become “greener”. It provides instructions for the employers and employees on the steps to take to conserve resources and energy, minimize waste, and reduce contamination in the infrastructure. The institute also gives information about methods to detect and respond to potential threats to the work environment.
- Free Publications for the General Public
HFI strives to raise public awareness of indoor safety via both the content on its website and its free webinars and publications. Its publications are designed not only for the experts and scientists in the field, but also the general public. Its Healthy and Safe Facility Handbook ─ School and College Edition, published in 2019, was made for laypersons to easily understand, affect, and improve health and safety issues in their learning environment. The handbook was made available in both English and Spanish editions to cover more facility services personnel. It was free to download from its website.
Healthy Facilities Institute in Cooperation with Others
Environment to promote their education programs among its partners and contacts. HFI also promotes publications by the prestique organizations. An example is a booklet released in 2012 by the NEA Health Information Network, which guides school staff, including kitchen staff, on how to prevent food allergy emergencies and what steps to follow when it happens. HFI supported the outreach and generated and disseminated collaborative press releases.
These activities help raise awareness, improve community dialog, and facilitate the sharing of knowledge about the safety of indoor environments across industries and markets.
HFI strives to improve the indoor environment in order to provide better, safer conditions and maximize the occupants’ and visitors’ health and productivity. It works to ensure the optimum conditions for living, learning and working.