How to Improve Indoor Air Quality at Work?
In this article our built environment specialists examine ways to assess and then improve indoor air quality (IAQ) in your workplace to create a better, healthier working environment, reduce absenteeism and improve productivity.
The article explains what indoor air quality is, what influences it and why it matters. It then looks at UK standards, how it influences worker health, and typical symptoms of poor air quality. It concludes by looking at how to test the air at work, and things you can do to improve the quality of your work environment.
A version of this story about how to improve the quality of the air inside buildings first appeared in Legionella Control International’s newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up here.
The importance of good indoor air quality
Indoor air quality plays a huge role in our overall health and wellbeing. Everyone expects to be able to work in a safe place, but few may consider the role of air quality in that equation. If you’re interested in finding out more about indoor air quality, you can read our other article on this topic, which explains what IAQ is and what it involves.
If you begin to research air quality online, you’re likely to come across a lot of information about outdoor air quality. Traffic, fumes, and various other particulates are in outdoor air, and are known to affect our health. It’s a little more difficult to find information about indoor air quality, and yet most of us spend around 90% of each day indoors. This could be at home or at work, depending on what we do. You can see, then, that having good indoor air quality is essential if we are to avoid inhaling all kinds of air pollution and the health consequences this brings.
What is indoor air quality?
Indoor air quality refers to the quality of the air inside buildings and how this affects people’s health and comfort. It is influenced by temperature, humidity and the presence of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter (dust), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mould spores, and in some cases radon gas.
Why does the quality of indoor air matter?
The point to keep in mind is that if your business premises have poor indoor air quality levels, your employees are likely to experience poor health including respiratory issues, fatigue, and long-term health risks because of it. This could be something as simple as a headache, but there is evidence to suggest that various health conditions can arise – or be made worse – by poor IAQ – and this can increase absenteeism and reduce workplace productivity.
What are the UK standards for indoor air quality?
Given the importance of air quality in buildings, you might assume there is legislation that businesses should follow in this respect. However, to date, there is no specific legislation covering this topic that employers or building owners in the UK can follow.
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 do cover workplace temperatures and ventilation, but do not specifically cover indoor air quality. Similarly, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (known as COSHH) do provide guidance on exposure to specific pollutants in the air… but they do not provide clear air quality requirements.
That said, there is some guidance out there if you know where to look. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published guidance in 1995 called HSG132 How to deal with sick building syndrome: Guidance for employers, building owners, and building managers. This is an excellent starting point, since poor air quality is certainly a contributing factor to sick building syndrome. The document discusses how to identify the syndrome, and how to investigate whether it might be present. It also discusses how to create a better working environment, mentioning ventilation and air flow early on in this section.
It’s important to note that sick building syndrome is recognised by the World Health Organization, yet even the HSE has referred to it as an ‘imprecise term’ that can make someone feel unwell. No specific illnesses can be pinned down to it. However, we can see that poor indoor air quality does have a negative effect on the health of those working in a building.
Other UK standards such as the Building Regulations (Approved Document F) set legal ventilation requirements for new buildings, and guidance is also provided by bodies like DEFRA, CIBSE, and UKHSA.
How can poor indoor air quality influence worker health?
Poor air quality could occur in a few ways, depending on the type of building and how it is used. Adequate ventilation is key here, as this will help in keeping the air in the building fresh. It can dilute the number of contaminants in the air, while a good air flow through the building can introduce cleaner air and remove poor quality air.
Yet it also involves what is in the air – and this might mean anything from Legionella bacteria carried in water vapour, to contaminants derived from insufficiently cleaned air conditioning or a lack of overall cleaning. Even cleaning itself can cause an issue, especially if regular cleaning is done using products containing certain chemicals that can trigger a health reaction.
What are the symptom of poor air quality?
Put simply, poor air quality inside a building can cause all manner of symptoms affecting the occupants. The problem is that many of these symptoms can present as those associated with colds, flu, and other common illnesses. You wouldn’t typically assume they had manifested because of poor air quality.
Symptoms may be seen in one of two ways:
- They can appear in otherwise healthy people.
- They can make existing health conditions worse in those who have them, i.e., asthma and other respiratory conditions.
Contaminants, mould and mildew, dust, Legionella bacteria… all these things and more can potentially cause health problems when workers are exposed to them. Legionella bacteria is rare, yet it can spread in buildings where the water system is not properly cleaned and maintained. It can then spread to building users via aerosols and water vapour in the air. With particulates in the air such as wood and silica dust, people can inhale them and experience a range of symptoms as a result.
As you can see, it is challenging to try and figure out how to improve the indoor air quality in your building when there is no clear legislation covering this topic and nothing else. However, the sick building syndrome guidance from the HSE is a good starting point. It does warn what can happen if your building suffers from this and focuses on ways to change things.
Can you test for poor indoor air quality?
Yes, there are various tests that can be done to assess the quality of the air inside a building. One of the most common and familiar tests we are all aware of is one for carbon monoxide. If you have appliances that have the potential to emit carbon monoxide such as gas boilers, gas and wood burning fireplaces, and gas cookers you should have a testing device for this inside your home or workplace that will go off if it detects unsafe levels of carbon monoxide.
Other tests can be done to assess the levels of CO2, VOCs, nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, and microbiological counts. It is also important to test for particulate matter in the air. This can cover particles of varying sizes – none of which are visible, and yet can all cause problems with the health of those in the vicinity.
How to improve indoor air quality?
Fortunately, there are a range of ways you can improve the quality of air inside buildings. Testing the current air quality is a good starting point, as this will provide accurate information to start from. Once you know whether there are any issues present, you can work out how best to solve them.
Increasing ventilation is a given, since it will always lead to better air quality in the building. Any HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system present in the building should be regularly cleaned and inspected to ensure it is working at its most efficient level. A lack of cleaning could result in substandard air being circulated around the building and inhaled by all those working there. Air filters can also remove much of the particulate matter in the air, which can make a huge difference.
It’s not merely about removing particulate matter though. Ideally, you want to reduce the number of pollutants in the air to start with. A proper understanding of the building, how it works, and which systems are present will help you do this.
We’ve already touched on the topic of cleaning HVAC systems, but proper cleaning and maintenance cannot be underestimated here. It’s fine to have filters in your HVAC system, but if those filters are not regularly cleaned, they won’t be able to work as well as they should. Similarly, it may be worth considering the age of the systems in use. Technology moves on and in some cases, older systems won’t work as efficiently as they once did.
Consider the ongoing cost of cleaning and maintenance. If renovations are planned, it may be prudent to invest in a new HVAC system that will perform far better and immediately improve the indoor air quality in the building.
Good air quality for a healthier, more productive working environment
As we’ve already noted, there are mentions of air quality in certain legislative documents in the UK. However, with no specific piece of legislation covering this topic, it can be difficult to know how to begin improving the air quality in your building. It’s the point where seeking external advice from experts becomes a sensible idea. We can help you understand what the existing air quality is like inside your building, and help you work out what you can do to improve it.
There is no doubt that having good indoor air quality will benefit everyone in the building. At its most basic level, we’re talking about providing a safe place for your employees to work. Beyond that, it has been proven that reduced absenteeism and improved productivity is seen in buildings with excellent air quality. So, an improvement in the IAQ in your building may well lead to improvements elsewhere in your business too.
It may be overwhelming to begin thinking about making improvements, but we are here to help you do just that. Enquire today about our indoor air quality services and discover how much cleaner the future could be for your business.
World leading air and water safety specialists
The environmental safety specialists at Legionella Control International help business owners, facilities managers and those responsible for workplace safety maintain good indoor air quality and mitigate risks associated with Legionella and other waterborne pathogens to maintain regulatory compliance and keep people safe.
If you would like to speak with one of our environmental safety specialists call us today on 0330 223 36 86 or contact us here …
