Posted on July 6, 2022
Dan Ulrich, P.E. is the only WELL AP accredited professional engineer in Indiana.
What is the WELL AP accredited, and how does it apply to professional engineering?
The International WELL Building Institute is a New York-based organization that has created an internationally recognized standard for healthier, safer buildings. The Institute’s criteria combine public safety with public health in building design and development through various factors.
There are about 20,000 WELL accredited professionals worldwide, each from different specializations, such as architecture or interior design. R.E. Dimond and Associates has the only WELL AP accredited professional engineer in Indiana.
WELL AP accreditation requires a deep understanding of building environments for all users and use cases
The WELL AP exam contains 115 multiple choice questions and is delivered in a two-and-a-half-hour period. It comes after a rigorous training process designed to expand the domain of a person’s knowledge of critical building systems, such as:
- The types, sources, and acceptable thresholds for indoor air contaminants
- Ways to reduce or dilute indoor air contaminants that are produced from humans or outside sources
- How a building’s water quality and humidity impact its comfort and the potential for bacterial growth
- Surveying and assessing equitable building design in bathrooms, hand washing stations, doorways, and paths
- Understanding how food service facilities and kitchens can support nutrition
- Ways to control glare, bright lights, and flickering
- Recommending lighting, heating and cooling, and sound design that’s customizable to occupants
- Reducing the risk of strain or injury through ergonomic workstations and improved physical activity
- Knowing what materials have an outsized impact on environmental health and how chemicals, odors, or compounds might react to people or other materials
- The relationship between culture, space, and a community
- And the ability to help professional engineers, designers, building architects, owners, and other stakeholders work collaboratively on a health-oriented project mission
WELL AP accreditation includes eleven broad topic areas such as knowledge of materials or air quality and tests expertise in dozens of sub-factors that can help building projects be more successful. For instance:
- A healthcare facility can reduce the risk of infections with improved humidity controls—a helpful practice in the humid summer air of Indiana and the Midwest.
- A school or university may be interested in amenities that can encourage students to choose nutritious food options or reduce contamination with common food allergies in their kitchens and cafeterias.
- A commercial retail outlet may design store shelves and aisles with programmable or reduced noise, glare, and bright lights that reduce harm to autistic kids and adults while improving energy efficiency and reducing costs.
Hire a WELL accredited professional engineer for your next building project
A licensed professional engineer like Dan combines a deep understanding of building codes and engineering with humane technology and design choices.
Building owners and facilities management teams can use technology and design to improve buildings for everyone who uses them. Contact Dan Ulrich, P.E., dan.ulrich@redimond.com to get started today or talk through your next engineering or building project.