S.F. supe pushes for ventilation upgrades
San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safaí introduced an emergency ordinance on Tuesday that says city highrises must comply with all regulations for building ventilation, and creates a system for filing complaints if they don’t.
The impetus, of course, is the COVID19 virus which is spread primarily through airborne respiratory droplets.
“We’re trying to ensure that workers, janitors and anyone working in buildings are safe and feels if they have any concerns that there is a mechanism to have those investigated,” Safaí said in an interview.
The measure calls for the Department of Public Health and the Department of Building Inspections to set up systems for receiving complaints and to investigate them within three business days.
Safaí introduced it during Tuesday’s meeting. It next will go to a committee and then return to the full board for voting. If passed, it would take effect immediately as an emergency ordinance and last for 60 days.
He doesn’t expect it to be controversial. “A lot of it is reaffirming a lot of existing laws already on the books,” he said. “I can’t imagine building managers would have a problem reaffirming rules and people’s rights to file complaints.”
The San Francisco Maintenance Contractors, a consortium of companies that handle building maintenance for most of the city’s large office buildings, declined to comment.
Ventilation is an issue in contract negotiations between the Maintenance Contractors and SEIU Local 87, which represents about 5,000 janitors who clean city offices. About 3,000 of them have been laid off during the pandemic. The other 2,000 have continued to clean offices — and 26 of them have died of COVID19.
Union president Olga Miranda said earlier this month that she thinks some buildings turn off ventilation at night, when janitors are working, and also that ventilation systems should be upgraded.
Safaí said the ordinance is the first step in “a larger conversation about potentially raising standards for ventilation.”
The measure applies to highrises with at least 50,000 square feet of commercial space that use mechanical ventilation systems.