People spend most of the long hours in the offices, making it essential for individuals to understand how indoor air quality affects their well-being and health. Indoor air pollution caused by carbon emission from breathing, thermal conditions, and dust and mold – all collectively lead to poor indoor air quality. And a poor office air quality ahead towards the headaches, respiratory problems, coughing or fevers while working in the office.
Additionally, the various cooling and heating systems installed in the offices can increase the amount of allergy-inducing dust mites, pet dander, and other harmful particles. These generated pollutants lead to several symptoms and health conditions.
That’s why it’s necessary to keep the air of your commercial buildings clean and safe while thinking about office renovation. This won’t only promote comfort among the employees but also protects the health. After all, breathing fresh, quality, and clean air is vital to good health. Controlling indoor air quality is only possible by managing the sources of pollutants, installing ventilation, and using filtration to purify the air from air pollutants.
Here we mention some ways to improve air quality for keeping the work environment healthy and happy. So, let’s have a look at those!
Table of Content
What is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?
How to Improve Indoor Air Quality in Offices?
- Install Air Filters
- Installation of Proper Ventilation
- Plan Thermal Devices
- Bring in Nature
- Equipment Maintenance
Conclusion!
What is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?
Indoor air quality defines the quality of air inside commercial and residential buildings. It also describes how it is affecting human’s health, comfort and ability to perform work. This becomes the major concern for business people and employees who spend almost half of the time in a closed office space.
The poor quality of such places leaves a huge and bad impact on employees’ well-being and productivity. Many experts describe that indoor air pollution can be highly detrimental to the mind, including negatively impacting a person’s productivity and cognitive performance. Such health consequences cost thousands of dollars due to medical care and productivity loss.
How to Improve Indoor Air Quality in Offices?
- Install Air Filters
For maintaining the indoor air quality in office space, individuals need to install air filters. These filters separate the harmful air pollutants from the air and provide fresh and clean air in workstations. Therefore, while purchasing an air filter, considering its airflow is the foremost factor. It is usually defined as cubic meters of air passing through the filter per minute. Additionally, take into account the size where you require to install the air filters.
- Installation of Proper Ventilation
If you’re running a manufacturing agency, you pretty obviously require a proper ventilation system to maintain the flow of air quality. The ventilation systems aren’t only obliged to remove the polluted air but also brings in fresh air from the outside. Installation of an appropriate ventilation system also charges fewer energy costs by maintaining the temperature indoors.
- Plan Thermal Devices
Installing heaters and air conditioning is the next step towards maintaining indoor air quality. However, avoid placing them inside the building. You must keep them outside of the building. The point here is providing proper ventilation to clear the inside pollutant air. Having a better ventilation system can keep the air quality well-maintained and fresh.
- Bring in Nature
There are various plants that hold the properties of nature’s air purifiers as they can absorb toxins from the air and provide fresh air in return. The plants that require more water often result in mold. Therefore, you need to routinely check the surroundings of the plant and clean any subsequent mold growth. The plants like Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum) and Golden pothos (Scindapsus aures) are a good source in absorbing benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene from the air. They also look fabulous and convert your office into a more inhabitable place.
- Equipment Maintenance
One of the essential factors you can do for maintaining the air quality is to regularly provide maintenance to the equipment in your workplace. Old and unmaintained equipment won’t only affect the air quality but also tends to release more harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs), combustion byproducts, and airborne particulate matter, which leads to nausea, headaches, asthma, respiratory irritation, and allergies.
Conclusion!
One of the prominent factors for enhancing productivity in workplaces is to properly maintain indoor air quality. A fresh and clean air flowing inside the office will directly affect the overall health and well-being of the employees. Thinking about improving the indoor air quality?
You can either take help from office renovation contractors or take into consideration the above-mentioned methods. So, choose one according to your preferences.