Posted by Ashley Peden on May 14th 2020
Controlling Airborne Contaminants
Indoor Air Quality is a growing concern in the workplace. Today more than ever, we are concerned about contamination in our environment.
What causes indoor air quality concerns?
- Indoor environment - inadequate temperature, humidity, poor air circulation, ventilation system issues.
- Indoor air contaminants - chemicals, dusts, moulds or fungi, bacteria, gases, vapours, odours.
- Insufficient outdoor air intake.
- Airborne pathogens, Carbon dioxide (CO2), tobacco smoke, perfume, body odours from building occupants.
- Dust, fibreglass, asbestos, gases, including formaldehyde from building materials.
- Toxic vapours, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from workplace cleansers, solvents, pesticides, disinfectants, glues.
- Gases, vapours, odours, off-gas emissions from furniture, carpets, and paints.
- Dust mites from carpets, fabric, foam chair cushions.
- Microbial contaminants, fungi, moulds, bacteria from damp areas, stagnant water and condensate pans.
- Ozone from photocopiers, electric motors, electrostatic air cleaners.
There are many effective measures available to improve air quality.
Here are some examples:
Filtration
HEPA air filtration will remove 99.97% of any airborne particulate that is .3 microns or larger. HEPA air scrubbers work by forcing air through a filtration system trapping harmful particulates. Sizing of these units will depend on the cubic footage of the space and the desired number of air changes per hour.
Containment
In an environment under construction or renovation, there is a greater risk of poor air quality. As aging infrastructure requires repair or renovation, this often needs to be addressed without business interruption. Keeping the work area contained is key to protecting air quality in the rest of the space.
Portable containment solutions, temporary barrier systems and pressure monitoring equipment are some of the tools available to provide containment of work areas.
Portable containment is most effective for small short-term projects in different areas of an occupied building. As an example, most health care facilities require portable containment for any regular maintenance; anything from changing a light bulb to work that requires accesses to the drop ceiling. This is critical to protect air quality for patients or visitors, especially those that may be immune compromised and susceptible to infection from airborne contaminants. These are useful in all buildings where regular maintenance is conducted in an occupied space.
Temporary barrier systems are another common form of containment. Air-tight barriers built with poly sheeting allow for size and shape customization for the specific project.
In both of these containment scenarios, the same HEPA Equipment above is used to provide negative pressure to the work space to contain airborne contaminants and prevent them from spreading to occupied areas. Pressure monitoring is used to ensure the containment remains under constant negative pressure.
Contact Safety Express today to talk to one of our industry experts about improving your air quality!
