Healthy Facilities Institute-University (HFI-U) Releases The Healthy and Safe Facility Handbook ─ School and College Edition

Boise, Idaho – The Healthy Facilities Institute-University (HFI-U) has released The Healthy and Safe Facility Handbook in both English and Spanish editions. It is available as a free download on the

www.HealthyFacilityHandbook.com website.

“Since Spanish is the second largest spoken language globally after Mandarin Chinese, with English in third place, we wanted to make this information freely available to the large numbers of Spanish-speaking facility services personnel,” said Allen Rathey, principal of HFI-U. “No signup or information is needed to download the guide. Just visit the site, download the guide(s), read and apply the information.”

HFI-U is grateful for the assistance of William Mattos, of ASEO USA, for making this translation possible, and is indebted to Kaivac for sponsoring the original English edition.

Background On the Guide

The Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI) Healthy and Safe Facility Handbook ─ School and College Edition provides actionable facts and steps to help you develop a system to:

  • Improve and protect the indoor environment at your facility
  • Provide better conditions for students, staff, faculty, and visitors
  • Advance learning outcomes by enhancing safety and health

The audience for this handbook is not technical but general.  It is designed to make the complicated simple while still being accurate, thus empowering laypersons to understand, affect, and improve health and safety issues in schools and colleges.

The subject of healthier indoor environments should be well-understood by all, not just experts.  This guide will give you holistic information to move your educational facility toward a higher level of health and well-being to the benefit of the learning and teaching process.

Guide Table of Contents

  1. Elements of Exposure – Breathing, Drinking, Eating, Touching, Ergonomics, General Safety and Security
  2. Healthy Architecture and Design

III. Health Factors

  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Chemical Exposure
  • Water Quality
  • Sound Levels
  • Lighting
  • Cleaning and Disinfecting
  • Sanitizing and Foodservice
  • Integrated Pest Management
  • Ergonomics (musculoskeletal, strains, slips/falls)
  1. Health by Areas
  • Classrooms
  • HVAC and Ceilings
  • Furniture
  • Restrooms
  • Floors
  • Stairs
  • Drinking Fountains
  • Cafeteria, Foodservice
  • Locker Rooms
  • Security
  1. Labs, Science, and STEM

About HFI-U

The primary purpose of Healthy Facilities Institute University (HFI-U) is to teach both Non-credentialed and Credentialed service and support staff employed in schools/colleges, senior care, hospitality, retail, and other fields, how to improve the environment of their facility in a way that makes them more valuable as employees and creates a bottom-line benefit to employers.

Featured

  • Compton High School

    Compton High School

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Compton High School has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.

  • From Approval to Opening: Inside Travis Unified School District’s Fast Tracked Campus Expansion

    The Travis Unified School District (TUSD) in northern California includes several elementary and high schools serving over 5,400 students. In 2024, the TUSD Board approved the addition of sixth grade to the Golden West Middle School campus for the 2025–26 school year, setting in motion an accelerated effort to bring new facilities online in less than a year.