Health Facility Commissioning Handbook: Optimizing Building System Performance in New and Existing Health Care Facilities

A how-to guide for optimizing health care facility performance The Health Facility Commissioning Handbook provides step-by-step instructions for implementing the health facility commissioning process outlined in its companion volume, the Health Facility Commissioning Guidelines. Because of their 24-hour use and vulnerable population, many health care facilities require building system operations and maintenance procedures that are different than those for commercial buildings. The ASHE health facility commissioning process takes these differences into account. ASHE believes conventional methods of optimizing energy efficiency are not foolproof because they do not adequately address the transition from construction to occupancy. The commissioning activities described in this document include the missing elements needed to assure sustained high-performance operation. ASHE encourages health care owners, designers, and constructors to move beyond concerns about the direct cost of commissioning to recognize that the cost of not commissioning is far higher. This Handbook includes information to help facility and project managers communicate this point and present the ASHE health facility commissioning process as part of the solution to the higher costs and lower revenues that health care facilities are facing today.