This Healthy Buildings online course will teach you about how buildings affect human health and how to make a building much safer. You will:
- Be able to evaluate how the physical characteristics of a building can affect human health
- Learn what is toxic to the human body
- Learn how to avoid these toxins
- Learn how to remove these toxins
A lot of buildings and homes these day still contain many hazardous materials without us or homeowners knowing. Buildings constructed in the 1960’s may contain substances such asbestos and the residues of toxic and harmful pesticides.
This course helps you understand these and other environmental concerns that exist in both residential and commercial buildings; and how you might respond to such concerns.
Course Structure
The duration of this online course is 100 hours. This consists of 8 in-depth lessons:
- Environmental Impacts On Buildings
- Scope, nature and principles of building biology
- Environmental impacts on buildings
- Climate, building location, radon, air quality, allergies, temperature, humidity, light, EMR
- Creation of electric fields
- Chemicals
- Air pollutants
- Cleaning chemicals
- Chemical breakdowns
- Leakages and spills
- Pesticides -household, industrial, agricultural
- Solid Waste pollutants
- Persistent organic pollutants (POP’s)
- Formaldehydes
- Heavy Metals
- Ammonia
- Resins
- Where different chemicals originate in a building
- Building Surrounds
- Creating a buffer zone
- Windbreaks, hedges, screens
- Creating Shade
- Designing a healthy home garden
- Going natural in the garden
- Avoiding problem materials
- Disposing of waste
- Making compost
- Working with rather than against nature
- Energy conservation
- Solar House Design
- Green principles for house design
- Furnishings
- Gas appliances, heaters and fireplaces
- Furniture
- Materials characteristics
- Floor Coverings
- Cane
- Metals
- Fabrics
- Flame retardation treatments
- Mattresses
- Dry cleaning and mothballing
- Temperature and acoustic properties of fabrics
- Finishes
- Chemical reactions
- Lung disease, cancer, skin disease
- Paint
- Repainting
- Timber finishes against decay
- Varnishes and oils
- Pesticides & Alternatives
- Types of insecticides -inorganic and biological (organophosphates, carbamates etc)
- Rodenticides
- Miticides, Bacteriacides, Algaecides, Termite treatments
- Understanding pesticide characteristics -toxicity, persistence, volatility, etc
- Common chemicals used in buildings, and natural alternatives
- Common garden chemicals and natural pest/weed management
- Understanding Insect Pest Management options
- Managing Interior Environments
- Assessing air quality
- Ventilation
- Temperature control
- Cleaning
- Acoustics
- Electricity
- Domestic pets
- Light
- Colour
- Indoor Plants
- Other hazards
- Consulting
- Services that can be offered to a client
- Checklist of building hazards
- Procedures and business practice for a consultant
- Setting up costs
- Operating a business
- Developing a business plan
- Determining fees to charge
Course Aims
- Explain the affect of the macro-environment on human health.
- Explain the affect of building surroundings, including a garden, on the interior environmental conditions.
- Choose interior furnishings which are not likely to negatively affect human health.
- Explain the health implications of using different types of finishes, including sealers, paints, preservatives and stains.
- Explain the health implications of using alternative methods of pest control inside buildings.
- Plan health conscious management systems of interior environments.
You will cover
- Why and how proximity to bodies of water can affect human health
- Why typical weather conditions may affect the design of a house in different regions
- Why and how exposure to electromagnetic radiation may affect human health
- Why and how proximity to various types of pollution can impact human health
- Why different garden designs can affect the ventilation in a building
- The affect of different garden components on lighting inside the building
- Why and how the design of two different gardens can affect the inside environment of a house
- Analyse two different garden designs for the affect they have on surrounding houses
- Compare the affects different finishes have on human health
- Compare the affects different floor coverings have on human health
- Compare the affects different electrical appliances have on human health
- Analyse how specific buildings like a home and a workplace are used; to determine health risk factors
- Recommend guidelines to the way in which different buildings are used, to minimise negative impacts upon health
HOW DOES A WARNBOROUGH ONLINE COURSE WORK?
You can start the course whenever is convenient for you. You will be studying from home and have access to support from our qualified tutors. Practical exercises and research tasks will be set at the end of each lesson – including an assignment. You will submit this assignment to your course tutor, who will mark your work and give you constructive feedback and suggestions.
If you have any questions please contact us.
