Over the last decade, people have been working indoors a lot more, for longer periods. This change has had a knock-on effect on a lot of things. Including our overall activity levels to vitamin D deficiency becoming much more common. Most people don’t realise is that the quality of the air we breathe when we’re at work has a real impact on our concentration, productivity and health. We spend 90% of our time indoors at work, so the impact of poor air quality is pretty severe. This is why we‘re amazed there is still no legislation out there setting an acceptable Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) standard for the workplace.
including airborne pollutants
Declining Air Quality Affects Health
Innovation is great, but when they are at the cost of our environment, we have to start asking questions. Our cities are becoming increasingly polluted with car fumes, airborne industrial waste and even particles from log burners. All that heavily polluted air is being pulled into our buildings through windows, doors and fresh air ventilation systems. Some air is filtered, but there is no standard requirement for the level of filtration. And with most air conditioning units being used for temperature control instead of air quality, a lot of employees are spending 90% of their time in a workplace with poor air quality. Breathing low-quality air each day out can have significant negative effects on health and productivity.
The Unseen Effect of Poor Air Quality
Bad air quality doesn’t just make you cough – the impact is far more widespread than that. For example, having a low relative humidity increases the lifespan of airborne pathogens. This helps them stay suspended in the air for longer and travel further, spreading infection throughout the workplace. Viruses such as influenza and norovirus survive longer at a relative humidity of 20-30%, but a mid-range relative humidity between 40% and 70% will minimise their survival. Tests also indicate the infectivity of the influenza virus is increased by both low and high humidity, with minimum infectivity at 50% humidity. Humidity has been shown to have a similar effect on airborne bacteria. With intermediate humidity levels decreasing the infectivity rate of airborne pneumococci, streptococci and staphylococci. Humidity below 40% will also make employees feel cold, leading to a rise in heating bills, reduced focus, increased health complaints and increased absenteeism.
in the workplace
But, you can’t have your RH too high either. Above 60%, people will start to feel uncomfortable and out of proportion with the actual indoor temperature. This will make people a bit edgy, sweaty and generally unable to focus. This causes people to turn on air conditioning or comfort cooling, sending energy costs through the roof. High humidity also encourages mould growth and condensation, which at best is a temporary slip hazard and at worst can create mildew, mould and all of the associated health-related problems for your employees.
Lack of Workplace IAQ Regulation
At the moment there is no specific legislation around air quality in general workplaces. However, a lot of organisations have started to realise the impact air quality can have on employees, and so have been recommending a RH of 40-60% in all commercial workplaces as a standard. These organisations include:
- Humidity Group– a specialist group and part of the HEVAC Association
- The World Health Organisation
- The Association of Optometrists
It’s also the range recommended by BS EN 29241 as the optimum for visual display terminals. Not only that, but these organisations have also recognised the importance of good humidity control in office environments, and how much it contributes both to the thermal comfort of employees and the indoor air quality of the workplace.
We seem to shy away from setting coordinated regulated standards to ensure excellent IAQ as this would result in extra investment and slightly higher running costs due to higher maintenance requirements. Really, what we should be considering as an industry, employers, employees and society as a whole is whether improving IAQ to underpin improved health and wellbeing is worth that investment. Of course, we believe it is. If you would like to find out more about how to improve air quality through humidity control, get in touch today.
