We spend almost 90% of our time indoors — either at home or at the office, thus indoor air quality is of utmost importance to us. We are aware of the high levels of polluted air we can be exposed to from outdoor sources. But, how much do we know about the air we are breathing indoors — especially at the workplace? Muzaffar Izamuddin, Design Manager, Environmental Care at Dyson shares a list of sources of indoor pollutants or low air quality:
Upholstery and decor items: Formaldehyde is a colourless gas pollutant, which can be released by furniture and wooden products containing formaldehyde-based resins. Carpets, carpet cleaners, wallpapers, paint, furniture and floor varnish could be a primary source of air pollution inside your offices.
Poor ventilation: Ventilation is a common method of controlling an indoor environment with airflow, often involving the movement of air between outdoors and indoors. One way to increase ventilation is by opening windows. However, by doing so poor air quality from the outdoors can come inside, particularly if the office space is in a city location with high traffic flow. On the other hand, built-in ventilation systems in spaces may not have adequate filtration systems, meaning that airborne pollutants are simply being blown around the room.
Excessive use of cleaning products: Chemical-based cleaning products, hand sanitisers, air fresheners and personal care products too can generate Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
Cigarette smoke: Cigarette smoke can linger on a person’s skin and clothes. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), more commonly known as second-hand smoke, is a material in indoor air that originates from tobacco smoke.
Improving indoor air quality with air purification
The amount of exposure to harmful toxins and pollutants in your everyday workspaces can be managed and limited through air purifiers. Placing the right air purifiers, that provide accurate and successful sensing, can help in capturing and destruction of harmful pollutants, becoming a step toward improving indoor air quality.
How air purifiers help
Machines with fully sealed filtration systems are crucial to managing indoor air pollution. Some air purifiers combine HEPA-13 filters with a sealed filtration system — so the whole machine now achieves HEPA H13 grade. This ensures that 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns, including visible dust particles to hair, pollen, allergens and bacteria are trapped inside the machine
The office can also adopt DIY and renovation products that don’t contain formaldehyde, and using a purification system within a space can help to remove this harmful gas indoors. In addition, using natural cleaning products can help lower the number of VOCs in indoor air.
Creating a healthy workspace is more important than ever before and indoor environment quality remains optimal to safeguard occupant health and well-being.
