Just breathe

It is easy to see most dirt in a building, be it mud walked into the carpet or ink stains on the desks. Air cleanliness, however, is less obvious to see and can unfortunately often be ignored, which can lead to adverse health conditions. Improving the air quality in a building will be beneficial to the health of the people working or living in the building and may help reduce staff absenteeism. The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology estimate that up to 50 per cent of all illnesses are caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air quality, therefore if you want a healthier indoor working environment you will need to look at ways in which you can improve the condition of the air.
    
It is important to understand what is in the air and how it can be harmful to the people in the building. A number of well-identified illnesses such as asthma, Legionnaires’ disease, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and humidifier fever have been directly traced to specific building problems that have led to air pollution.

Dust and other pollutants
The most common cause of air pollution is dust, which can cause health hazards such as respiratory problems and skin, eye, nose, throat and ear irritation. Dust is comprised of several sources including dead skin cells, mould spores and the husks and faeces of dust mites. Dust mites are often the main culprits of allergies and health problems, although the allergies are not caused by the dust mites themselves but from their faeces and the shedding of their skins. Dust mites primarily feed on dead skin cells, hence why it is vital to reduce dust in buildings to control and minimise their presence in the workplace.
    
Other office pollutants include organisms from building materials, carpets and other office furnishings; dangerous compounds in some cleaning materials; paints and adhesives; contaminants from water damaged walls, ceilings and carpets and pesticides from pest management practices. One of the most acutely toxic indoor air contaminants is carbon monoxide, a colourless, odourless gas that can arises from defective central heating systems or car exhaust fumes or tobacco smoke drawn in from outside.

Ventilation systems
Ventilation systems are designed to draw in adequate amounts of outside air, as well as heating and cooling the air. If these are poorly designed or maintained they can lead to indoor air problems in several ways. For example, inappropriately located outdoor air intake vents can bring in air contaminated with car exhaust fumes, boiler emissions or air vented from restrooms. In contrast, problems may arise if, in an effort to save energy, ventilation systems are not used to bring in adequate amounts of outdoor air.
    
Finally, bacterium such as legionella can spread from dirty ventilation systems, which will have serious consequences on the health of building users.

Asbestos
Many common building materials used before 1975 contain asbestos such as floor tiles, ceiling tiles and insulation materials. Normally significant releases of asbestos do not occur unless the building materials are disturbed, by for example sanding or drilling.
    
Three major reasons for poor indoor air quality in office buildings are the presence of pollutant sources referred to above; poorly designed and maintained ventilation systems and uses of the building that were unanticipated when the building was designed or renovated.

Improving air quality
Dust mites thrive in warm and damp environments. Climate control equipment, extractors and dehumidifiers can help improve air quality, as will the regular ventilation of rooms within the building.
    
It’s important to take air quality seriously. For example, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) regulations, owners and operators of water systems have a duty to ensure that the risk of legionella bacteria is controlled.
    
It is always a good idea to have plants in your building to improve air quality, particularly in offices. Plants thrive on carbon monoxide. They clean the air and emit oxygen, making for a healthier working environment.

Regular and effective cleaning
Regular cleaning and vacuuming of carpets and hard floors along with upholstery cleaning will reduce the amount of dust and dust mites in a building.
    
Use green cleaning products to reduce harmful health effects. These help avoid air and water pollution, ensuring a safe and healthy indoor environment.
    
To ensure a high standard of cleaning, you may want to use a specialist cleaning provider. A professional, franchised cleaning company will be fully insured, employs fully trained staff and have a wide range of support and technology available to them.

Prepare for the unexpected
However well buildings are maintained and kept hygienic and clean, there are sometimes unforeseen events that can cause poor air quality. This can include fire damage leading to toxic smoke fumes. Following water damage, if materials have failed to dry out properly this can lead to moisture induced growth of mould colonies, which can propagate and release allergenic spores or toxic compounds into the air.
    
Restoration response is the best way to return your business to normal in the event of fire, water or flood damage. Disaster restoration specialists may offer a free registration service, so that businesses can be guaranteed a quick response within a few hours of an emergency to put the property back to pre-damage condition.
    
As you can see, unclean air can be a real health hazard, but unlike some health risks, it is something that businesses can help avoid. Once you have made positive changes to your premises to improve the quality of the air you should hopefully have a healthier workforce, happier employees and reduction in staff absences.