Comfort complaints and Occupant Health

Indoor air quality within the office space, hospitals and similar buildings is an issue of increasing importance today. Every enclosed workplace is required to be supplied with a sufficient quantity of fresh or purified air. Additionally, temperature and relative humidity (which are connected) should be kept reasonable. Low working temperatures are indeed subject to various guideline limits and regulations. Mechanical ventilation systems are required to be kept clean and properly maintained and serviced as a basic standard.

Further from the basic standards is a lengthy list of other parameters that may affect occupant comfort that should be considered. Some of these factors are as listed below.

Routine monitoring of these parameters will create a baseline operating range for any specific location and enable variations or potential problems to be identified and resolved quickly.

Hyper-sensitivity

Some individuals can develop a hyper-sensitivity to a variety of different substances in the air. This can be caused by over exposure to a substance or some other issues. Individuals who have built up a hyper-sensitivity to a particular substance can suffer quite significant  and severe adverse effects that are sometimes not obviously apparent.

The monitoring of chemicals and substances likely to cause such effect on particular individuals is a specialist field whereby Aqua Legion UK are able to help. We can conduct a number of monitoring techniques to cover a wide variety of chemicals known to be present in the work place that can cause or trigger hyper-sensitive reactions.

Comfort

It is a well known fact that the build up of CO2 levels in the work place can be directly related to work place productivity. A significant build up of CO2 can lead to lethargy or tiredness. CO2 levels are used to indicate adequate fresh air ventilation rates in an office building. With reduced or inadequate fresh air supply, comfort complaints will begin to rise and work place productivity will certainly begin to fall.

It is important to ensure optimum indoor air quality comfort conditions are maintained throughout the workplace. This will help towards creating a low sick rate and high productivity rate for most businesses. Particular conditions such as very low humidity levels can lead to dry eye's sore throats and itching complaints from statically charged dust particles. Elevated dust levels or bacteria, fungi yeast and molds etc can trigger asthma attacks and various other serious respiratory conditions. Other conditions include watering eyes, running or dry noses. The effects of air in a building can be problematic and very costly to a business. However, to routinely monitor your air and ensure general levels are maintained can be priceless. Especially when you calculate the increase in staff productivity, team moral and reduction of sick days.

An indoor air quality survey could help you towards a significant increase in productivity of all your staff over an 8 hour day. Want to know more or need an air quality survey? contact us today!