Task Forces
About ISIAQ Task Forces
ISIAQ has a number of task forces developing guideline documents. Members can participate by attending Task Force meetings and workshops (normally held in conjunction with conferences,) and by correspondence. Members also have an opportunity to comment on the Task Force final report prior to its publication.
As of the second quarter of 2008, ISIAQ has got a total of eight standing Task Forces, as follows:
- Control of moisture and mould problems in cold climate
- Vocabulary of the indoor air sciences
- IAQ and climate in cultural and heritage collections
- Criteria for cleaning of air handling systems
- Performance of portable air cleaners
- Education for healthier buildings
- Effect of the indoor environment on productivity in offices
- Indoor air research and building practice
ISIAQ Task Force Regulations
- The objectives of a task force are to advance the indoor
air sciences, to disseminate information to users, and to review important new
and emerging technical issues and describe the broad consensus of opinion among
indoor air scientists on such technical issues or other related issues. The
objectives of a task force should involve activities (task force meetings and
workshops) and target dates preferably coordinated with the Indoor Air or Healthy Buildings series of conferences.
- Task force titles and chairpersons must be approved by the BOD after review and upon recommendation by TFC.
- Task Force chairpersons shall provide a scope and a plan of action for the activities of the future task force within 3 months of ISIAQ BOD approval of the task force title and scope. The scope and plan of action for a task force must include target dates for completion and a plan for coordination with future Indoor Air and Healthy Building conferences.
- Within 3 months of the TFC approval of the scope and a plan for activities, Task Force chairpersons should submit to TFC a list of members of the task force who have agreed to play an active part in drafting and reviewing materials for the task force. TFC shall review the list of members.
- Funding (if any) and use of funding for task force activities must be approved by TFC and follow guidance for 'Financial Support of ISIAQ Activities' (BOD, October 1998.)
- Review of each draft task force document shall be made by no less than four peer reviewers approved by TFC. Task Force chair persons should submit a list of at least 4 possible peer reviewers. Any ISIAQ member may make recommendations on peer reviewers for TFC approval. TFC shall make certain that review comments and concerns are incorporated in the document. The revised document must be approved by at least three of the peer reviewers from among the most active, peer review commentaries.
- Final approval of all documents shall be by the BOD upon review by TFC and recommendation for approval to the BOD.
- Task Force chairpersons are encouraged to convene a work group or workshop during or in connection with a major international conference to discuss the draft before it is finalized and prepared for peer review. Thus, a complete draft document would be available and circulated in advance of the meeting. During the meeting, comments on the draft could be discussed by the group to determine what issues must be addressed for consensus on issues to be reached.
- ISIAQ Task Forces will publish reports, not guidelines or standards. While task force reports may contain guidance information for users, the report content will be written in a style so as not to be misinterpreted by others as guidelines or standards.
ISIAQ Task Force Committee
The objective of the committee is to plan and oversee the Task Force program as stated above including:
- Actively encouraging formation of new Task Forces in areas
considered important to the society.
- Recommend to Board of Directors (BOD) on new task force
titles and chairpersons for task forces.
- Oversee activities of existing Task Forces, including a
follow up of target days and coordination with future Healthy Building
and Indoor Air conferences.
- Review, and approve of, the proposed list of members of a
new Task Force.
- Review and approve on the use of funding for Task Force
activities.
- Organize the review process of TF reports.
- Recommend to BOD on approval of Task Force reports.
- Elaborate a written
Report to BOD on the work of the committee once a year.
The work will mainly be carried out by mail and e-mail. Meetings (both closed for the committee and open) shall, at least, be held at every Indoor Air and Healthy Building conference.
Ongoing and Future Developments of the ISIAQ Task Forces
ISIAQ is continuously developing the role and activities of ISIAQ Task Forces. In the past, the ISIAQ Task Force Committee was responsible for organizing the workshops of standing ISIAQ Task Forces. Since the Indoor Air 2005 Conference, the Task Force Committee also organizes workshops on topics which are relevant for indoor air sciences. This was the case during Indoor Air 2005 in Beijing and Healthy Buildings 2006 in Lisbon. During Indoor Air 2008, 35 forums were organized and were a part of the technical program of the conference, open to all delegates. Many of these were very well-attended and well-received by the delegates.
It is intended that most (if not all) forums organized at Indoor Air 2008 will continue their discussions on the forum section of ISIAQ website. The forum section on the ISIAQ website (to be added in the near future) will also make it possible to start new discussion forums, which can initiate new forum meetings in future ISIAQ conferences. To this end, the Task Force Committee will work closely with the future conference organizers. New forums can also be launched in advance of each conference on the ISIAQ website.
The ISIAQ website also features the report of one of the existing Task Forces –Vocabulary of the indoor air sciences- in the form of a downloadable pdf. For now, only an English version is available. We would like to add Chinese, Korean and Japanese versions in the near future.
