Individuals, businesses and entities of all types have been re-evaluating standard practices in light of health and safety issues associated with COVID-19. Carrier, a leader in HVAC, refrigeration, fire, security and building automation, developed its Healthy Buildings Program to address the importance of maintaining safe and efficient indoor environments, specifically commercial buildings, healthcare, hospitality, education, retail and marine.

"For the economy to successfully recover, people need to have trust in the safety of the buildings they are entering. New technologies like microscopic filtration systems and touchless building controls have gone from nice-to-have conveniences to must-have protections. The Carrier Healthy Buildings Program can help enable healthier and safer indoor environments as we get back to our new normal," said Dave Gitlin, president and CEO of Carrier.

According to the company, the Healthy Buildings Program offers a wide range of tools and solutions to improve indoor air quality (IAQ), increase outside air ventilation and enable touchless interactions. Carrier Healthy Building Services provides consultation, implementation and continuous monitoring to enable customers to restart, operate, maintain and upgrade their buildings safely and efficiently.

Some components of the program are:

— Safe Start Service focuses on a building's readiness for occupancy through a rigorous recommissioning of HVAC equipment and the implementation of best practices, which may be executed remotely.

— IAQ Assessment tests air quality, and develops and implements upgrades for optimal filtration, ventilation, airflow and controls. Carrier can also develop and implement corporate-wide IAQ engineering standards.

— Remote Airside Management provides continuous validation of IAQ parameters, periodic checks of equipment health and continuous airside commissioning.

— Wellness Services help customers achieve the International WELL Building Institute's WELL building standard certification, continue high-performance operations and upgrade certification levels.

— Remote Energy Management provides advanced cloud-based analytics for optimizing energy efficiency, equipment uptime, occupant comfort and operational productivity.

— Emergency Assets support provides HVAC equipment on-demand to meet building system upgrade requirements to reopen quickly and safely in the current environment.

— Advanced Access Services sets and enforces limits on the number of people allowed in a specific space in order to control site density. Other features include alerts for attempts to access blocked areas and reports for contact tracing.

— Security Services provide solutions and upgrades to help ensure increased resilience and a safer, healthier working environment. These solutions include contactless management, temperature screening and video analytics supported by connected services, remote monitoring and remote diagnostics.

A number of items fall under Carrier Healthy Building technologies including filtration products such as various filters, UVC light devices and UV photocatalytic oxidation; the OptiClean Negative Air Machine, which cleans air, uses pressure to prevent air from spreading to different sections of a building and functions as an air scrubber; and ActivAir hybrid hydronic air terminal to increase ventilation. Contact reduction can be accomplished with BlueDiamond touchless access, which employs mobile credentialing technology to eliminate touchpoints and DirectKey mobile access, which allows hotel guests to access their rooms while bypassing the front-desk and numerous touchpoints.

Healthy Buildings allows customers to consult with Carrier's experts on a range of healthy building technologies.