Have you ever wondered about how clean is the air that you and your colleagues breathing in the workspace? Although, we always hear about the rise in pollution outside, but is equally required to pay attention to the indoor air quality because an average human being spends most of the tie staying indoor-only whether it is at home or workplace. They should know the impact of air quality on them in day-to-day life.
Breathing a fresh quality air in the indoors is very vital to your health because the same air that we inhale might contain pollutants can cause various health conditions like nausea, headaches, asthma, respiratory irritation, and allergies as they are high in content like volatile organic compounds, combustion by-products, and airborne matters.
Improving your office air quality by clearing up and maintaining the vents, installing filtered ducted air conditioning Sydney or indoor plants is extremely important because researches have shown us that the poor-quality index not only damages an individual’s physical health but is highly toxic for the mental health including the negative impact on his productivity and consistent performance.
Another study conducted on people, keeping in mind the scales od decision-making performance which includes basic activity, approach, strategy making, activity application, task orientation, information processing, and initiative.
The graph kept declining in the cases where the air quality was worse, which means more CO2 concentrated air and made it evident that good indoor air quality, especially in the workplace is essential and helps in improving the employee’s health and work performance.
Managing indoor air quality includes three major steps or strategies. Starting from managing the pollutant’s sources by excluding or isolating them from the building or people with physical barriers, air pressure relationships, or managing the usage timings.
The second one is diluting the pollutants and then removing them from the building through ventilation followed up filtration which will clean up the air from the pollutants.
Here are 8 easy ways you can get started with to improve the office indoor air quality:
WORKPLACE
Having a clean and tidy indoor environment decreases the chance of having dust and mold presence. Use a vacuum cleaner with HEPA filter and clean the rugs and carpets regularly. Along with this, keep the curtains, windows, or any clustered desk where there is a lot of tacks of paper, books or cable, etc clean.
AIR FILTERS
Keep up the maintenance and replacement routine of your HVAC air filters as they need proper care and attention. Dirty or clogged filters reduce the airflow and filtration which increases the number of pollutants present in the air. You can also install air conditioner pre-installed with these filters like air conditioning Sydney.
AIR VENTS
Office indoors contains a lot of furniture, storage boxes or big office chairs, the chances are they all must be contributing to blocking the free flow of the air through the air vents. An unfiltered air that isn’t filtered properly stacks up the number of pollutants present in the air. This will lead to making the workplace feel heated or suffocated and an invitation to various health problems.
WINDOWS
Apart from the air vents and filters, try to bring as much fresh air as possible directly from the outside. Keeping in mind the weather permissions, you can slightly ajar the window or left it open to make the air circulation easier around your workplace, flushing all the stale air outside.
SPILL CLEANING
An office is a chaotic place and someone dropping a glass of water or a cup of coffee is visible occasionally. The same thing we can see in the washroom area, where there are leaks or excessive moisture. It is important to clean up such a mess to avoid the formation of mold and mildew around that area.
DISPOSING AND STORING
The more the people, the more the food and hence a huge attraction for all the pests and unpleasant odors. A well-maintained kitchen garbage disposing system and proper storage place for employee’s food storage will keep this situation to arise. Regular refrigerator and pantry area clean-ups are also mandatory.
INDOOR PLANTS
Embrace the plants around you and get it for your workplace as well to get the benefits of various health benefits from it. Not only health, but it will also enhance the beauty of the office environment, making it look more lively, green, and organic.
Make sure to take proper care of them by watering, removing dead leaves and dirt. Do this and the plant will take care of you in return. They are also beneficial in reducing the noise up to some extent.
REGULAR TESTS
After taking all the measures mentioned above, make sure you are running an air quality check regularly to get the right information and insight about the present state of the air pollution. These tests will include measuring the airflow, mold growth, required humidity levels, and more. This will help you to maintain and take necessary steps in the future.