MILWAUKEE, Sept. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson
Controls (NYSE: JCI), the global leader for smart,
healthy and sustainable buildings, announced it will pair its
industry-leading OpenBlue Healthy Buildings portfolio with the
new collaboration between UL and SafeTraces. In March 2021, UL, the global safety science leader,
and SafeTraces, a market leader in DNA-based safety technology,
announced a new program to evaluate the effectiveness of their
indoor air quality, ventilation and filtration systems, and
infection control strategies for airborne diseases including
coronaviruses, in K-12 schools.
Independent, quantifiable assessments empower K-12 administrators
to improve health and safety outcomes.
Through the program, Johnson Controls, UL and SafeTraces will
leverage science-based indoor air quality and infection risk
assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of mechanical systems in
K-12 schools. Johnson Controls is the first in its industry to
leverage data provided by UL and SafeTraces to collaborate with
K-12 administrators to address any gaps and create a blueprint for
a comprehensive, long-term clean air strategy.
Johnson Controls offers K-12 administrators tailored services
for the full building lifecycle through OpenBlue Schools, a
complete suite of connected solutions that deliver impactful
sustainability, new student experiences, and respectful safety and
security that combines more than 135 years of building experience
with cutting-edge technology.
"Education authorities, like many of us, are aware of and more
responsive to the critical need to ensure healthy school buildings.
But there is no 'one size fits all' strategy because school
districts and the buildings they run are not homogenous," said
Nate Manning, Johnson Controls'
President of Building Solutions North America. "Science-based data
ꟷ from air quality and risk assessments to building connected
technology solutions ꟷ will drive each component of this
program, which will bring peace of mind to students, teachers, and
families as schools reopen."
Transformative Collaboration: Connecting the Dots
Working together, these three leaders in healthy buildings offer
K-12 schools a holistic program to create healthy classroom and
campus environments.
"K-12 administrators and their facility managers are held to the
highest standards of safety and rapidly evolving health regulation
like never before. Through UL's Healthy Building program, we have
learned how the facility leaders who manage what they measure have
far greater success managing risk than those who only address
issues as they arise," said Sean
McCrady, director in UL's Assets and Sustainability
Performance, Real Estate and Properties group. "Not only will we
equip K-12 administrators with independent evidence of the efficacy
of their systems, but we can also now give them guidance to enhance
their building operations into the future."
UL's Healthy Building program provides indoor environmental
quality, energy and sustainability services for the built
environment. In this instance, UL's assessment consists of a
comprehensive data review, HVAC system inspection, air quality
testing, ventilation assessment, exhaust system verification, and
risk assessment via SafeTraces veriDARTTM
technology.
A core component of UL's Healthy Building program,
veriDARTTM by SafeTraces is the first aerosol-based
solution for verifying HVAC system performance for health and
safety in real world environments. With support from the National
Institutes of Health and other leading research partners, veriDART
leverages patented DNA-tagged bioaerosol tracers that safely
simulate airborne pathogen mobility and exposure in order to
identify potential infection hotspots, test ventilation and
filtration efficacy, and inform safety and financial planning with
independent science-based performance data.
"The question on every parent's, teacher's, and staff member's
mind today is – is my school safe to return to and how will we
ensure it's safe in the future?" said Erik
Malmstrom, SafeTraces CEO. "veriDART is the best equipped
solution in the marketplace to answer these questions for
SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and other airborne diseases. We're thrilled
to partner with Johnson Controls and UL to deliver the gold
standard program for school health and safety during the pandemic
and beyond."
Serving schools for well over a century, Johnson Controls is the
industry leader in smart buildings and connected technologies and
oversees the full lifecycle of building operations for school
administrators. For example, Johnson Controls OpenBlue Schools
integrates building IT, communications, administration and
classroom learning systems with core building systems to create
smart, connected schools. Examples of OpenBlue Schools
solutions include predictive maintenance, contract tracing, social
distance monitoring, mask detection and skin temperature
screening.
Delivering Data-Powered Confidence
"Johnson Controls is the global leader in building data, UL is
the global safety science leader, and SafeTraces is an emerging
leader in building performance verification. Together, we can
deliver science-based insights and actionable data analytics with
Johnson Controls complete suite of connected solutions to help
administrators manage operations more systematically, efficiently,
and sustainably. Through our combined capabilities, we can empower
building owners to transform their spaces and provide healthy
environments confidently. Keeping our schools safe is imperative,
but only the beginning. The future possibilities are boundless."
said Manning.
For more contact information visit:
https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/openblue/openblue-clean-air
To learn more about OpenBlue, visit:
https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/industries/k-12-education.
About Johnson Controls:
At Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) we transform the environments
where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in
smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to
reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and
the planet.
With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson
Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such
as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums,
manufacturing and beyond through its comprehensive digital offering
OpenBlue. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150
countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s
largest portfolio of building technology, software as well
as service solutions with some of the most
trusted names in the industry. For more information,
visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us
@johnsoncontrols on Twitter.
INVESTOR
CONTACTS:
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MEDIA
CONTACTS:
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Antonella
Franzen
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Chaz
Bickers
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609.720.4665
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Direct:
224.307.0655
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Email: antonella.franzen@jci.com
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Email: charles.norman.bickers@jci.com
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Ryan
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Michael
Isaac
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Direct:
609.720.4545
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Direct: +41 52
6330374
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Email: ryan.edelman@jci.com
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Email:
michael.isaac@jci.com
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SOURCE Johnson Controls International plc