Consider a Dust Containment System for ICRA Infection Control

The acronym ICRA stands for Infection Control Risk Assessment. The term refers to a procedure that all healthcare facilities must engage during any construction project within occupied or sensitive spaces.

Infection control specialists and contractors in the field look to Infection-Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) guidelines and strategies to prevent environment-associated infections in every healthcare facility. Sound ICRA infection control measures should not only be part of routine infection-control strategies but engineering practices, as well.

Pro Active ICRA Infection Control for Your Company

Hospitals and healthcare facility environments are rarely the cause of any disease transmission, with the exception among those patients whose immunity has been somehow compromised. Nevertheless, chaos theory dictates that the eventuality of inadvertent exposures to environmental or airborne pathogens will occur. Exposure to certain strains of Aspergillus mold, varicella-zoster virus, or Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the like, can have severe outcomes and cause serious illnesses for patients and healthcare workers alike.

Therefore, every facility should develop and have environmental control measures in place to effectively stem, if not prevent these and other types of infections. A series of performance measurements as a means to evaluate infection-control efforts will ensure that ICRA infection control standards are met. There are several ways to minimize outbreaks, e.g., the use of cleaners and disinfectants, regular maintenance of medical equipment, following strict water-quality standards, and to establish proper ventilation and containment systems to filter out infected dust particles, especially for specialized care like operating rooms and isolation rooms. Experience in ICRA infection control and associated engineering practices are the key to risk assessment and implementing solutions.

Dust Containment Systems That Offer a Real Solution

STARC Systems offers dust containment solutions for infection control professionals and contractors that meets or exceeds ICRA Class IV requirements. Our modular walls are aesthetically pleasing, and are a state-of-the-art clean, green and economical high-performance containment system. Anodized aluminum frames hold galvanized steel-backed, white aluminum faced panels made airtight by foam ceiling a network of gaskets, 360 degree inter-panel dual seals, integrated tongue, and groove seals, and pliable foam floor gaskets.

Reusable walls that can be stored or relocated time and again are a more viable and economic solution versus traditional methods of temporary containment. Installation is engineered for rapid assembly. Panels are expandable in height from six feet, ten inches to 10 feet, three inches, and up to 97 feet of wall can be deployed within an hour. There is no debris or noise in assembly and disassembly, no accompanying containment waste associated with drywall being sawed, drilled, hammered, and piled. STARC walls are reusable for years and recyclable when that time comes, which means further cost-savings, and also a green and sustainable dust containment solution.

It should be noted that the STARC dust containment system is ideal for the health and wellness of employees in manufacturing environments, as well. Dust containment systems in industrial settings such as manufacturing plants, assembly lines, or warehouses will ensure personnel safety by creating a barrier that will isolate worker environments from any hazardous materials or contaminant byproducts during any renovation or remodeling. No company wants unnecessary downtime resulting from a decrease in labor production due to illness or sickness from poor ventilation, nor do they, or should they be, straddled with costly time-consuming training and retraining. Occupied office building renovation projects are another example where clean, fast temporary containment systems such as STARC Systems are less invasive to the employees, prevent airborne particulates from disseminating into the workplace, and look like a finished wall during construction.

Environmental infection control in healthcare venues of all types, i.e., urgent care centers, outpatient surgical centers, clinics, doctors’ offices, hospitals, etc., is the primary concern of all infection control professionals and contractors. Dust containment measures and procedures are necessary to prevent airborne contamination and are an important part of any infection control risk assessment. STARC Systems Temporary containment demystifies the dust containment component of Infection Control.