WELL Health-Safety Seal provides accredited ‘safe spaces’

A new campaign has begun to drive awareness of practices to promote healthier and safer indoor spaces through a WELL Health-Safety rating.

Created to raise confidence in the safety of buildings and shared spaces in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the WELL Health-Safety rating was devised by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), a global thought leader in how buildings and communities can be used to advance the health and wellbeing of the people inside them.

Encompassing building expertise and nearly a decade of health science, the rating offers an efficient and cost-effective opportunity to guide, validate and scale efforts to manage health and safety issues in shared spaces.

Buildings and spaces can display a WELL Health-Safety seal on their windows or doors so that people feel more confident in their decision to go inside.

Informed by IWBI’s Task Force on Covid-19, which included nearly 600 public health experts as well as virologists, government officials, academics, business leaders, architects, designers and building scientists, the rating examines 22 features.

Its five core areas include: cleaning and sanitisation procedures; emergency preparedness programmes; health service resources; air and water quality management; and stakeholder engagement and communication. It requires a minimum of 15 criteria be met in order to achieve the rating and be awarded the seal.

“While the WELL Health-Safety Rating was a response to this moment in time, it was developed to address broader health and safety-related issues well into the future,” said Rachel Hodgdon, president and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute.

“We collaborated with our global community to create something that’s flexible for all building types and organisational priorities.”

The initiative has found a wide range of ambassadors who are currently appearing in an ad campaign to raise awareness of the sevice, including Lady Gaga and Venus Williams to Jennifer Lopez, Robert DeNiro, Deepak Chopra and the 17th Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

Paul Scialla, founder of the International WELL Building Institute and CEO of its parent company, Delos, said: “These ambassadors and cultural influencers are partnering with us because they truly believe in the mission – and how critical it is – to make buildings and shared spaces centre on health going forward. This is a win for everyone involved.”