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It’s easy to take for granted that we all need air to breathe, where this vital but invisible resource is essential for life on earth. And although we tend to pay more attention to outdoor air quality and pollution levels, it is often indoor conditions that are overlooked. This remains the case even though we spend much of our time indoors, particularly in the workplace.

Workplace air quality can have a major impact on the mental and physical health of staff, where pollutants, mould and harmful allergens can all cause indoor conditions to deteriorate. This is why air quality monitoring and testing is so important, as understanding the makeup of your indoor air is essential for safeguarding everybody’s health and for workplace compliance. 

Read on to find out more about indoor air quality monitoring services, with a look at why workplace air quality is so important and the common causes of poor air conditions.

The Importance Of Good Workplace Air Quality

Good workplace air quality is essential for safeguarding the health of your employees and for meeting strict compliance standards. Without proper air monitoring, you may start to experience a company wide phenomenon called Sick Building Syndrome, where this tends to occur in large open plan offices that utilise HVAC systems and other indoor technologies. 

Sick building syndrome can cause widespread staff sickness and reduced morale, which can harm employee retention rates and end up costing your company money over time. Common symptoms your employees may experience can include fatigue, shortness of breath, sinus discomfort and allergic reactions. Poor air quality may also exacerbate existing respiratory conditions, in addition to impacting office wide productivity and concentration.

Having a plentiful supply of fresh air in an office space can become increasingly difficult in winter as workplaces attempt to conserve indoor temperatures. With windows and doors remaining shut, ventilation equipment may have to work overtime to extract pollutants and keep indoor conditions comfortable. As such, this equipment can be prone to breakdowns and inefficiencies, where sometimes HVAC devices themselves can contribute to indoor pollutant levels, worsening the issues at hand.

Air Quality & The Law

Providing good air quality for your employees is a legislative requirement, where your company could face scrutiny and potential legal challenges if staff begin to experience profound and prolonged symptoms caused by poor air conditions. It is vital that your company conducts regular risk assessments in order to identify areas of poor ventilation, where any identified issues should be dealt with thoroughly and without hesitation.

Under regulation 6 from official UK Workplace Health, Safety & Welfare Regulations, employers need to: “ensure that every enclosed workplace is ventilated by a sufficient quantity of fresh or purified air”. A failure to meet this standard may expose you to lawsuits and employee compensation requests, where these can be costly as well as harmful to your company’s public reputation. 

What Can Impact Indoor Air Quality

There are numerous different factors that can have a big impact on indoor air quality, where these can include:

• Mould - airborne mould spores can be released into an indoor environment, especially in damp or poorly ventilated spaces, where these can cause a range of health issues.

• Bacteria & viruses - indoor workspaces can become breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses to spread, particularly if poor hygiene standards combine with a lack of proper ventilation.

• Allergens - harmful allergens such as seasonal pollen and dust deposits can accumulate in workplaces, where these can be especially problematic if employees already struggle with allergies.

• Carbon monoxide - potentially dangerous levels of carbon monoxide can accumulate in workplaces that utilise gas or petrol appliances, where this pollutant is particularly difficult to detect.

• Carbon dioxide - indoor CO2 quantities can rise to harmful levels as a result of poor ventilation or if air filtration systems cease to function, where this can become a problem in large sealed-off meeting rooms.

• VOCs - volatile organic compounds can accumulate in offices and workplaces, where they are present in cleaning chemicals, building materials, dehumidifiers and air fresheners.

• Humidity levels - humidity can also affect indoor air quality in the workplace, where damp conditions can cause mould to develop, whilst excessively dry air can also be an irritant.

• Ozone - commonly used office equipment, including printers and photocopiers, can emit low levels of ozone gas which can build up over time if the workspace is poorly ventilated.

How Indoor Air Quality Is Measured

In order to keep track of indoor air quality in your workplace, you can utilise purposeful monitoring devices that will alert you if conditions are becoming unsafe. Some strategies and technologies for monitoring air quality include:

Air Quality Sensors

A key way that you can keep track of air quality levels in your workplace is to install sensors and detection equipment. These can judge levels of particulate matter, VOCs, carbon dioxide and monoxide, as well as general temperature and humidity levels. With the help of these sensors, you can receive up to date information about your indoor air conditions, where some of these devices may also offer recommendations on how to properly ventilate your space.

Monitoring & Consulting Companies

If you feel unable to manage your air quality monitoring independently, you may be able to enlist the help of an expert company in order to properly assess how best to proceed. Occupational hygiene consultants and environmental monitoring companies specialise in testing workplace conditions and providing practical strategies for improvements. These kinds of services can allow you to proceed in a thorough and fully compliant manner.

Building Management Systems

Another approach to indoor air quality protection is to install an effective building management system (BMS). These computer-controlled systems can be used to regulate a wide range of electrical and mechanical equipment throughout your building, including HVAC systems. As such, you can adjust your management system according to predefined air quality parameters in order to tackle any air quality issues as they arise, or to prevent air quality from dropping below a safe level.

Third Party Testing & Certification

For more exacting air quality services, you can also arrange for a third party analysis of your workplace, where this kind of testing can lead to an official accreditation confirming that your air conditions are favourable. These testing companies will assess your air quality according to strict regulatory standards and guidelines, where you will also be able to receive expert suggestions on how to improve ventilation and indoor safety.

Integrated Technologies

There are also lots of technologies that can provide an advanced assessment of your workplace conditions, beyond the straightforward analyses provided by air quality sensors. IoT enabled solutions can combine sensors with data analytics and cloud based platforms to offer real time insights into your workplace air conditions. This process of connecting and exchanging data across multiple devices can be used to make workplace air quality safe whilst working towards energy efficiency and sustainability.

Euro Environmental: Air Quality Assessments For Your Workplace

At Euro Environmental, we offer a variety of air quality monitoring services in order to ensure workplace compliance and employee safety. Our team can provide both general air quality assessments and specialised investigations, according to the requirements of your site. These indoor air quality solutions can help you to tackle Sick Building Syndrome and keep productivity levels high across your business.

Our air quality assessments will test for viable airborne bacterial and fungal levels, VOC and formaldehyde levels, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide levels, as well as workplace humidity and temperature. In addition to this, our assessments can also include dust exposure testing, where we can test your site for an atypical pollutant if you have a special concern or dispute that needs to be addressed.

With the ability to provide in-depth, impartial recommendations, our air quality consultants can also help you to develop and implement testing strategies to identify the root cause of air quality issues within your building. Beyond this, we can test commercial equipment and assess your site for workplace exposure issues. Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help your business. 

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