Oklahoma City Advances Healthier Buildings for Residents and Employees by Achieving WELL Health-Safety Rating Across Portfolio of Buildings
Oklahoma City became the first city in the state, and third in the country, to achieve the WELL rating across several of its municipal buildings, including City Hall
NEW YORK, August 14, 2023 /3BL/ - The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the world’s leading organization advancing healthy buildings, organizations and communities, announced today that Oklahoma City has become the first city in Oklahoma, and third in the country, to earn the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management across a portfolio of five municipal buildings, including City Hall. Through this achievement, Oklahoma City is showing its strong commitment to promoting a safer and healthier environment for its employees, residents and all those who visit.
“Providing a safer and healthier environment is a priority for OKC,” said Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. “We were happy to work with the International WELL Building Institute and I am pleased we could be on the vanguard of this movement. OKC is proud to receive the WELL Health-Safety Rating for our municipal buildings. It means that our employees will enjoy a safer and healthier working environment, and so will the residents who visit these public buildings.”
Focused on operational policies, maintenance protocols and emergency plans, the WELL Health-Safety Rating includes 23 strategies to help organizations keep spaces clean and sanitized; provide essential health benefits and services; communicate health and safety efforts; help everyone prepare for an emergency; and assess air and water quality.
Oklahoma City was awarded the WELL Health-Safety Rating following the successful completion of third-party documentation review to confirm it has met the feature-specific intents and requirements for supporting the long-term health and safety needs of all those inside the buildings. The city is implementing features such as improved airflow, hygienic hand washing practices, reduction in hand contact of high-touch surfaces, effective cleaning protocols, a robust emergency preparedness and response plan, advanced stakeholder engagement and more.
“Congratulations to Mayor Holt and Oklahoma City for being the first city in the state to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating across a portfolio of municipal buildings,” said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI. “Because of Mayor Holt’s vision and commitment, the city is now part of an exemplary group that has stepped up to demonstrate health leadership through its public buildings. We hope Oklahoma City’s WELL achievements today will reverberate across the country and inspire other cities to do the same, helping grow the movement for people-first places.”
In the past three years, mayors have shown strong, consistent leadership to support and advance the role of healthy buildings. In 2020, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) passed a healthy building policy resolution focused on prioritizing indoor health and taking action to deploy a “people-first” approach to city buildings, encouraging cities to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic by advancing integrated healthy building solutions, such as the WELL Health-Safety Rating. In 2021, USCM passed another resolution focused on ramping up healthy building efforts to help strengthen and fortify cities in the face of COVID-19 and future public health threats. Last year, Miami, Fla., became the first city in the nation to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating across a large part of its municipal building portfolio. Earlier this year, Jersey City, N.J., became the second city to do so.
“By achieving the WELL Health-Safety Rating across these buildings, including City Hall, Oklahoma City is not only helping to safeguard these buildings against future health threats, but making important progress advancing its longstanding plans to invest in the health and safety of workers and residents alike,” said Paul Scialla, Founder of IWBI.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating is an evidence-based, third-party verified rating for all new and existing building and space types, advancing human health and well-being through science-backed policies and procedures. From Yankee Stadium and the Empire State Building to JPMorgan Chase & Co. global retail locations to the entire portfolios of companies like T-Mobile and Planet Fitness, facilities around the world are prioritizing the health and safety of their staff, visitors, and stakeholders with the help of the WELL Health-Safety Rating. Today, WELL offerings, including the WELL Health-Safety Rating, are being used across 4.7 billion square feet of space in 125 countries, and by 25% of the Fortune 500.
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About the International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people-first places to advance a global culture of health. IWBI mobilizes its community through the administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and WELL ratings and certifications, management of the WELL AP credential, the pursuit of applicable research, the development of educational resources and advocacy for policies that promote health and well-being everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.
International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL Portfolio, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rating, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Equity, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Performance Rating, Works with WELL, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.
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