ICPSNE 2025 Conference Session: Bryan Connors Explores How ASHRAE 43 Transforms Ventilation Management in Healthcare

How ASHRAE Guideline 43 Empowers IPs to Strengthen Ventilation-Based Infection Prevention

Ventilation systems play a critical role in infection prevention by maintaining environmental controls that limit the transmission of airborne pathogens. Yet, infection preventionists (IPs) and facilities managers (FMs) have long faced challenges due to, at least in part, a lack of clear operational standards for ventilation performance and response protocols.

The newly published ASHRAE Guideline 43, titled Operations Guideline for Ventilation of Health Care Facilities, directly addresses the challenge by providing practical guidance on how to operate and maintain ventilation systems in healthcare facilities and describes acceptable ranges for various parameters.

The new guideline provides a common operational framework for how ventilation systems should be operated and maintained day-to-day to support patient safety. It also defines monitoring expectations, response procedures, and documentation standards. It creates a shared management approach and structure for IPs and FMs to collaborate proactively, not just in response to excursions, but in the routine management of healthcare ventilation systems.

Join Bryan Connors at the ICPSNE Fall Conference to learn about:

• The key differences between the design-focused requirements of ASHRAE 170 and FGI Guidelines and the operational guidance provided by ASHRAE 43. How each informs infection-prevention efforts.
• The essential components of a comprehensive Ventilation Management Plan.
• Effective ventilation monitoring strategies, including airflow, differential pressure, and relative humidity, and how to apply a risk-based approach to enhance patient safety in high-risk areas such as ORs, isolation rooms, and sterile compounding spaces.
• Appropriate response actions when ventilation parameters deviate from acceptable thresholds and how to integrate these practices into infection prevention protocols.

Presenter:

Bryan Connors MS, CIH, HEM
Managing Principal Consultant, Healthcare
Environmental Health & Engineering

ICPSNE ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2025

November 18, 2025
Warwick, RI