The challenge
Indoor air quality is an important occupational health and safety factor, including in office environments where most of the workstations are situated in an open plan office space.
Indoor air quality problems arise due to:
- The types of building materials and furnishing used.
- Operations within the building such as poor air quality caused by air conditioners.
- Activities of the occupants in the office space.
- Inadequate temperature control.
- Humidity, lighting, and excessive noise pollution.
- Indoor air contaminants such as chemicals, dusts, moulds or fungi, bacteria, gases, vapours, and odours.
- Insufficient intake of fresh air.
When the indoor air quality (IAQ) is poor, health problems can arise such as:
- Building-Related Illness (BRI)
- Cancer
- Eye and throat irritations
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS)
- Respiratory illnesses
- Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) or Tight Building Syndrome (TBS)
- Death
Symptoms may include:
- Coughing
- Dizziness
- Fatique
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Shortness of breath
- Sneezing
- Upper respiratory congestion
- Watery eyes
Respiratory health effects include:
- Rhinitis, and nasal congestion (inflammation of the nose and/or runny nose)
- Epistaxis (nose bleeds)
- Dyspnea (difficulty breathing or painful breathing)
- Pharyngitis (sore throat), and coughing
- Wheezing, and worsening asthma
- Severe lung disease
Severe health effects include:
- Conjunctival (eye) irritation
- Fever and chills
- Hearing loss
- Headache or dizziness
- Lethargy, fatigue, and malaise
- Myalgia (muscle pain)
- Nausea, vomiting, and anorexia
- Rashes
- Tachycardia (rapid heartbeat, sometimes leading to shortness of breath).
What does the law say?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a comprehensive list of VOCs that are used to identify and reduce hazardous substances.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standards 62.1 and 62.2 are the recognised standards that are applicable to ventilation system design and acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ).
Both standards specify minimum ventilation rates and other measures in order to minimise ad-verse health effects for occupants.
Our SMART Solutions
It is difficult to prove that the above-mentioned symptoms are related to a particular indoor air contaminant.
Contact us for professional advice and let us conduct an indoor air quality survey using our proven scientific approach.
We can quantify and determine the possible source or reasons for your employees’ illness and absenteeism.
we conduct an indoor air quality survey that provides a scientific approach. It quantifies and determines the possible source or reason for employees’ illness and absenteeism.
The CSE difference
We provide your organisation with SMART Solutions that are realistic, achievable and measurable.