Campus Safety Measures for Fall 2021

Campus Safety Measures for Fall 2021

The University of St. Michael’s College is in alignment with UofT’s preparation for a safe return to campus for Fall 2021:

  • Enhanced cleaning and more sanitizing stations for many high-traffic shared spaces to enable our community members to disinfect their hands and high-touch surfaces before or after use:
    • Sanitizing stations located at building entrances and exits
    • Sanitizing wipe dispensers available in all classrooms
    • Enhanced cleaning and disinfection of common-use areas and high-touch surfaces
  • Assessing and upgrading classroom ventilation:
    • HVAC assessments were conducted by external Professional Engineer, including conducting air surveys, to determine air flow rates in classrooms
    • Classrooms will be equipped for six (6) equivalent air changes per hour, the same standard applied to patient examination rooms, walk-in clinics and other health-care settings
    • Exploring and making changes to existing equipment and/or operations to meet the equivalent ACH target, if feasible, safe, and appropriate.
    • Over 30 local air purification units will be installed in classrooms throughout the St. Michael’s campus to supplement the air flow rate
  • Ongoing assessment of building ventilation and air filtration
    • St. Michael’s continues to upgrade and monitor HVAC equipment
      • Three (3) large air handling units were replaced during the summer of 2021 in the Brennan Hall building
    • Flushing air in buildings two (2) hours before occupancy and upgrading to high-efficiency MERV 13 filters (where feasible)
  • Monitoring wastewater (to be finalized with UofT):
    • St. Michael’s will participate in the testing and monitoring wastewater
  • The most important elements in reducing the risk of COVID-19 are preventative measures. St. Michael’s highly recommends:
    • Minimizing the number of people in a place at the same time
      • Arriving to classes no more than 10 minutes prior to the start of class
      • Exiting the building immediately following the completion of classes
    • Maintaining a physical distance of at least 2 metres.
    • Practising good hand and respiratory hygiene
    • Required use of non-medical masks or face coverings in indoor settings

The listed measures build on those introduced for Fall 2020.