Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) Practice Exam

In ICRA, a stop-work criterion is a predefined trigger to halt construction activities when containment, ventilation, or infection control measures fail or are breached, allowing corrective action before resuming. It acts as a safety brake to prevent the spread of contaminants by pausing work until the problem is fixed and controls are re-verified. Typical conditions might include loss of negative pressure in the work area, a breach in containment barriers, alarms indicating ventilation or filtration failures, or door openings that compromise isolation. When triggered, the area is secured, stakeholders are notified, corrective actions are taken (repairs, reestablishing containment, rechecking air balance and pressure differentials), and work only restarts once controls are confirmed to be functioning. This focuses on pausing to restore safe conditions, rather than altering schedules, reducing PPE, or expediting work.