Don't Neglect Indoor Air Quality

7/27/2018 (Permalink)

Discovering the environment of a new job is often a part of the first day. You figure out who to go to for help, how to use the copier, and what time of day is best to visit the break room to guarantee the coffee will be fresh. But another vital part of our work environments that we often neglect to evaluate is the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). As a business owner or a building manager, this element is a vital part of a thriving business and happy and healthy employees.

The sources of pollutants are sometimes hard to identify and are hard to totally eliminate from a building. They come from multiple sources and some causes, specifically building materials like insulation or paint, continuously emit pollutants. In other circumstances, pollutants that originate in an appliance or building system could be spread at regular intervals or even seasonally when things like air conditioning or the furnace turn on. And still, other pollutants are harder to predict as they are associated with human behavior, such as cleaning or re-decorating.

Thankfully, administrations like OSHA have provided guidelines to give us a baseline for treating and assessing Indoor Air Quality. OSHA suggests considering the following factors when assessing your building’s IAQ: temperature, humidity, ventilation, and the presence of mold and chemicals. Improving these factors can improve the Indoor Air Quality even when the sources of pollutants cannot be totally eliminated.

If you are concerned about the air quality in your workplace, give SERVPRO a call to find out how we can help.