How to Create and Promote a Healthy Workplace Environment?

It's one thing to work in a well-kept building, but is it also a healthy workplace?  While your office may look sparkling clean to the eye, there are a number of invisible factors that can seriously affect the health of your workplace.  Chief among them is the quality of the air your building occupants breathe while indoors.

What’s the problem?

Up to 72 trillion microscopic irritants, or allergens, find their way into your offices every day.  They include dust, pollen, dander, dust mites, insect biodetritus, lint, mold, mycotoxins, and bacteria.  Many of these particles are so small that your nose and throat can't filter them out and they can get deep into your lungs.

Indoor air quality is a major concern to businesses, building managers, tenants, and employees because it can impact the health, comfort, well being, and productivity of building occupants.

Most Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors and many spend most of their working hours in an office environment. Studies conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others show that indoor environments sometimes can have levels of pollutants that are actually higher than levels found outside.

Pollutants in our indoor environment can increase the risk of illness. Several studies by EPA, states, and independent scientific panels have consistently ranked indoor air pollution as an important environmental health problem. While most buildings do not have severe indoor air quality problems, even well-run buildings can sometimes experience episodes of poor indoor air quality.

Twenty years ago, EPA Report to Congress concluded that improved indoor air quality can result in higher productivity and fewer lost work days.  Today, the EPA estimates that poor indoor air may cost the nation tens of billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and medical care.

What are the costs associated with poor IAQ?

The costs associated with IAQ problems are indisputable but are often extremely broad with the total cost to a particular facility being difficult to quantify. From an energy cost vs. worker productivity prospective, the benefit for providing comfortable work environments is clear. With the estimated energy cost to operate the building of $2 - $8/square foot/year and a worker salary cost of up to $300/square foot/year it is obvious that worker productivity is the dominant economic factor.

What are the benefits of good IAQ?

According to the US Department of Energy (DOE) the “HVAC system accounts for 40 to 60 percent of the energy used in U.S. commercial and residential buildings.  This represents an opportunity for energy savings using proven technologies and design concepts”.  Studies have shown that, for offices, 1 percent improved productivity would be equivalent to the whole energy cost of a building or, nationally, $2 billion annually.

What’s the solution?

1.)    Perform routine/periodic Building Health Checks to identify baseline IAQ conditions

2.)    Fix building breaches, leaks in duct work, HVAC tune-ups, etc…

3.)    Improve regular housekeeping with modernize protocols

4.)    Environmentally clean and treat the HVAC system

5.)    Perform an annual environmental topical cleaning with a bound antimicrobial solution to assure the sanitization of all surfaces

6.)    Perform post remediation clearance to provide certification that the facility is environmentally clean

About Pure Air Control Services:

Alan Wozniak founded Pure Air Control Services, Inc. in 1984 as a small mechanical contracting firm. Today, the work distributed from its offices in Tampa, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Houston and Washington D.C. sets the industry standard for indoor environmental quality diagnosis and remediation.

Pure Air Control Services  is a national provider of the following IAQ services: Building Sciences Evaluation; Building Health Check (USP 797 monitoring compliance); Environmental Diagnostic Laboratory (EDLab) an AIHA accredited micro laboratory (USP 797 Lab analysis); DIY IAQ Green Check test kits, Environmental Project Management; HVAC System Cleaning and Mold Remediation Services, among other indoor environmental services.

The company’s expanding valued client roster includes the General Services Administration (GSA); Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Allstate Insurance; Carrier Air Conditioning; Naval Air Warfare Center, Orlando; and Naval Air Station - King's Bay, Georgia, and many other Fortune 500 companies, school boards, and city, state, and county governments, making Pure Air Control Services the reliable industry leader in IAQ.

For more information on Pure Air Control Services, Inc. please contact Ed Ziegler, VP at (800) 422-7873 x 804, or visit www.pureaircontrols.com.