LMC Meets - The #ChooseToChallenge series, Alyson Prince

The property and construction industry is still a field characterised by strong gender inequality, where women are underrepresented and underpaid compared to their male counterpart.

The ability to create an industry that is diverse, inclusive and balanced partly lies with all the successful leading female professionals that have already made a name for themselves in the property sector.

Their success stories, achievements and insight become an invaluable source of inspiration for the younger generations coming into the workplace, encouraging more and more young females to pursue their careers in construction.

In this episode of our video series, we spoke to Alyson Prince who is currently the one and only professional to hold the title of Built Environment Infection Control Nurse. As we are preparing to reopen offices and several other activities, now more than ever her role is key to restart safely.

With a background in engineering and a clinical qualification, Alyson works across all aspects of the built environment while bringing to the table specialist infection control knowledge. Her input to the infection control risks assessment can impact several building elements including ventilation, water hygiene and clinical layout, feeding into all project stages from concept design to planning and delivery.

Watch the video below to hear more.

Living in a time where the spread of infection is a great concern for all, we naturally wondered why Alyson was the only one of her kind in the UK. “The reason is because [this specialist knowledge] is not part of what we as infection trial nurses are taught. Even microbiologists and infection trial doctors do not get standard building information taught to them as part of their development.” Alyson explained. “That means that people have to learn on the hoof – and the result of that is no standardisation of education or knowledge across the board.”

And the only way to achieve this is a standardised teaching program from the very beginning. Infection trial nurses in the making must be provided with a solid knowledge of the built environment standards and the impact of infection on the built environment. Understanding how infection is spread and how a space can be optimised to ensure safety for the end users is a key requirement for professionals in this role.

“Lack of consistency in guidance and knowledge around risk assessing the re-introduction of the public spaces is what worries me” said Alyson when we asked her what keeps her awake at night. As all the building left closed and unused for months are preparing to reopen, specialised professionals like Alyson, which are currently lacking, will become increasingly important to avoid the risks that are posed to the public.

As employers are getting ready to reopen their offices to staff, we asked Alyson to share some best practice advice. How can infection control be maintained? How can employees make sure that their teams come back to a safe work environment? While caution is still vital at this stage, allowing people to access the office on a rotational basis and ensuring hygiene in the workplace are the two key elements that will allow employees to work safely. “Vaccinations will have knock-on effect and reduce down the numbers but that won’t be zero, so how much risk do we want to take? Measures like social distancing, hand hygiene, cleaning your workspace will be key in order to maintain a safe workspace.”

To know more about the built environment infection control, contact Alyson on [email protected].