The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has launched the new WELL Health-Safety Rating for all buildings and facilities to address the challenges and concerns of a post COVID-19 built environment.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management is an evidence-based third-party verified rating that focuses on operational policies, maintenance protocols and design strategies required to keep building occupants safe, healthy and protected going forward in a post-pandemic world.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating is one of the earliest outcomes of IWBI’s Task Force on COVID-19, which was established in late March to help guide IWBI’s response to the pandemic. The task force consists of nearly 600 public health experts, virologists, government officials, academics, business leaders, architects, designers, building scientists and real estate professionals.
“Our buildings and the people who tend them are our first line of defence for keeping us safe and healthy,” said Rachel Gutter, president of IWBI, “and the current pandemic has confirmed that health is a material economic consideration of the first order. These two simple truths stand at the nexus of our work to date and will, along with the hard evidence that is mounting, inform all our decisions about the critical need for better buildings, more vibrant communities and stronger organisations going forward.”
