By Mercedes Quintanilla

The WELL building Standard is a metric for buildings and organizations to deliver environments that enhance the occupant’s health and well-being. The standard includes 10 concepts, this time I’m going to go over the Movement concept.

Goal.

Improve the quality of the air that is breathed inside the building through various strategies that include the elimination or reduction of sources of contamination or filtering.

Background.

• Movement is intimately connected with all aspects of daily life.
• Physical activity encompasses a wide range of activity domains, including occupational, transportation, household, and leisure activities.
• Physical inactivity has been a major focus within the public health community for decades, due to its contribution to premature mortality and chronic diseases, including type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, stroke, dementia and some forms of cancer.
• Despite the widely known benefits of regular physical activity, global estimates from 2016 show that almost a quarter (23%) of the adult population is physically inactive.
• In 2013, physical inactivity is estimated to have cost health systems globally an estimated $54 billion and contributed to nearly $14 billion in lost productivity.
• Global and national social and economic changes are known to have an impact on health behavior. For example, increased urbanization and economic development are associated with declining levels of physical activity.

Requirements.

1. Buildings and Active Communities: These are selected from a series of optimizations based on the design.
2. Ergonomic workstation design: Ergonomic workstation furniture should be provided to suit all users, allowing for a custom fit of the workstation.
3. Circulation network: Stairs are designed for daily use and aesthetics, visibility/positioning and indications are used to encourage the use of stairs.
4. Active Occupant Facilities: Projects are required to provide bicycle storage along with showers, changing rooms, and lockers, supporting both active commuters and active occupants.
5. Planning and Site Selection: It must be demonstrated that the area around the building encourages walkability and that the building is located near public transportation.
6. Physical Activity Opportunities: Projects will provide free physical activity opportunities led by a qualified physical activity professional.
7. Active Furniture: Ample active workstations, such as a standing or walking desk, should be provided.
8. Physical Activity Spaces and Equipment: Access to physical activity space will be provided at no cost through an on-site fitness center, a nearby center, or nearby outdoor spaces, such as a park.
9. Promotion of physical activity: The projects will provide incentives for physical activity or promotion programs and control of offers.
10. Self-monitoring: Projects are required to provide wearable devices that can monitor physical activity and health behaviors over time.
11. Ergonomics Programming: Projects must work with a certified ergonomist to implement comprehensive ergonomics programming, commit to continuous ergonomic design improvements, and provide ergonomic support to remote workers.

References.

– IWBI. (s.f.). International WELL Building Institute. WEEL-IWBI. Retrieved July 5, 2022, from https://www.wellcertified.com/

– M. (2021, December 28). What is the WELL Building Standard. WELL Certification | ITG WELL. ITG Market Partner WELL in Spain. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://wellservices.itg.es/certificado-well/