How Do Negative Pressure Systems Prevent Cross-Contamination?
Negative pressure systems are designed to prevent contaminated air and particles from escaping a room and infecting others. This is accomplished by drawing clean air into a room and exhausting the existing air, usually to an outdoor environment. This creates an air flow that prevents contaminated air from escaping a negative pressure room. Additional measures such as HEPA filtration for the exhausted may be necessary.
What does HEPA mean?
HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air or Arrestance. A HEPA filter is designed to capture small particles such as dust, mold, bacteria, removing 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns in size. HEPA filters assist in creating an airborne isolation environment and can be used to filter exhausted air in a safe manner. At IRS we use HEPA air filtration devices, HEPA vacuums and HEPA cartridges on our respirators, when performing environmental and infection control decontamination services.
Infection Control Technologies, (ICT) a division of Insurance Restoration Specialists, Inc. (IRS) is one of the nation’s leading Building Hygiene contractors. ICT provides Facility Hygiene Services and Emergency Decontamination for some of the nation’s most respected real estate and Risk Management Professionals, Health Care, Municipalities, Institutions, Food Safety, Transportation, and government organizations.