Engineering Strategies for Airborne Diseases

E L E C T R I C A L S Y S T E M S T R A T E G I E S

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FLEXIBLE WORKSTATIONS

Social distancing requires us to maintain a 6-foot distance from fellow workers. Many existing electrical and technology infrastructures in open offices are not designed to be flexible enough to allow re-configuration of workstations. Below are some strategies to be able to re-locate workstations as conditions change: • Provide a 6-inch raised floor. Provide a regular grid of boxes below the floor with 6-foot flexible connections (whips) to partitions. This will allow the electrical and data cables to be easily relocated as conditions change. • Provide a regular layout of flush floor boxes with power and data connections throughout the open office space. While not as convenient as a raised floor, this is a lower cost solution. • Provide power and data from the ceiling with drop cords in various fashions. Power poles, flexible drops and conduit drops can be used. Leave 6 feet of slack at the top to allow for relocation. While this option has poor aesthetics in fully fitted out offices with layin or hard lid ceilings, it works reasonably well in spaces with no ceilings or spaces with an ‘industrial’ feel. • Go to all wireless data to eliminate data cabling.