What Employers Can Do About Indoor Air Quality

• Posted 23rd November 2011 /
• 1 Comment /
• 

While there is no OSHA standard for indoor air quality (IAQ), the potential risks are significant. Here are some helpful tips to help protect your workers and keep them comfortable.
Resources cited in this article include a new OSHA publication, Indoor Air Quality in Commercial and Institutional Buildings, as well as EPA and industry documents, experts, and websites.

What Is IAQ?
IAQ refers to the quality of the air inside buildings as represented by concentrations of pollutants and thermal conditions like temperature and humidity. These affect the health, comfort, and performance of people who work in those buildings. Light and noise are also considered IAQ factors.

According to EPA, air quality problems are a result of conditions including the following:

• The increase in chemical pollutants in consumer and commercial products.
• The tendency toward tighter building “envelopes” and reduced ventilation to save energy. (Envelope refers to the elements that make up the shell or skin of the building’s exterior.)
• Pressure to defer maintenance and other services in order to reduce costs.

Air quality may be influenced by a building’s site, design, renovations, maintenance of air-handling systems, occupant density, activities conducted in the building, and occupants’ satisfaction with their environment.

Many IAQ problems are associated with improperly operated and maintained heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other contributors include moistures, radon, presence of outside pollutants, internal contaminants like cleaning and disinfecting supplies, and use of mechanical equipment.

Eyes, Nose, Throat
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. OSHA says a sign of poor IAQ is that people feel sick inside buildings, but symptoms subside soon after leaving or on weekends. Health effects vary widely and can be mistaken for symptoms of other conditions such as allergies, colds, the flu—and even stress. Among diseases linked to poor IAQ are asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis, an inflammation of the lungs.

Symptoms may include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat; headache; dizziness; rashes; and muscle pain and fatigue. These typically disappear soon after exposure ends. However, exposure to biocontaminants like fungi, bacterial, and viruses can cause serious, sometimes life-threatening, respiratory diseases that can lead to chornic conditions.

Acute effects occur within 24 hours of exposure. Chemicals released from building materials can cause headaches, and mold spores may result in itchy eyes and runny noses in sensitive individuals soon after exposure.

Chronic effects are lasting responses to long-term or frequent exposures. Long-term exposure to even low concentrations of some chemicals can cause serious problems. Cancer is the most commonly associated long-term health risk of exposure to indoor air contaminants. Long-term exposure to radon, asbestos, benzene, and tobacco smoke are linked to an increase in cancer risk.

OSHA notes that good IAQ “contributes a favorable and productive environment for building occupants, giving them a sense of comfort, health, and well-being. Significant increases in worker productivity have also been demonstrated when the air quality was adequate.”

When building managers fail to resolve IAQ complaints, absenteeism, work performance, and employee morale can be affected. But that’s not all—EPA estimates performance loss due to poor indoor air at 2 percent to 4 percent.

Three Types of Pollutants
Indoor air pollutants fall into three basic categories: biological, chemical, and particle.

• Biological pollutants include excessive concentrations of bacteria, viruses, fungi, dust mites, animal dander, and pollen. These can result from inadequate maintenance and housekeeping, water spills, inadequate humidity control, condensation, or water introduced through leaks in the building envelope or flooding.
• Chemical pollutants are caused by emissions from products used in buildings. Examples are office equipment, furniture, wall and floor coverings, pesticides, and cleaning products. Other sources are accidental chemical spills, construction-related products, and gases that are byproducts of combustion. Examples are carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and nitrogen dioxide.
• Particle pollutants are solid or liquid, non-biological substances light enough to be suspended in air. Among these are dust or dirt drawn in from the outside. Other particles are produced by activities that take place inside, such as construction, sanding, printing, copying, and operating equipment.

What Employers Can Do
As an employer, what should you be doing to prevent and control IAQ problems? OSHA recommends a management approach, the same systematic means that you might use to address other safety and health issues. The elements are familiar—management commitment, training, employee involvement, hazard identification and control, and program audits.

According to OSHA, “Management needs to be receptive to potential concerns and complaints and train workers on how to identify and report air quality concerns.” If employees have issues, it’s the job of leaders to assess the situation and take corrective action.

Buildings owners and managers should develop and implement an IAQ management plan to address, prevent, and resolve problems. EAP recommends selecting an IAQ coordinator and policies, assessing the current status of indoor air quality through periodic inspections, performing necessary repairs and upgrades, and implement follow-up assessments or other needed steps.

Employers who lease space should become familiar with the building management’s strategy for resolving IAQ problems. It’s important to know who to contact in buildings where there is mixed use and pollutants may come from a variety of sources. Leases should specify IAQ performance critiera, such as specific rates of ventilation.

OSHA recommends a team approach solving problems and building consensus around indoor air. An IAQ team should include building occupants, administrative staff, facility operators, maintenance staff, healthcare staff, contract service providers, and other interested individuals.

Control Methods
There are three primary methods of reducing indoor air pollutants. The first is source management, which is considered the most effective. It involves the removal, substitution, and enclosure of sources. An example is installing low-volatile organic compound (VOC) carpets. Another is establishing temporary barriers to contain pollutants during construction.

The second category is engineering controls. An example is a local exhaust system such as a canopy hood that removes sources of pollutants before they can be dispersed into a building’s indoor air. A well-designed and functioning HVAC system controls temperature and humidity levels.

This provides comfort and it dilutes and removes odors and other contaminants. Air cleaning systems also fall under engineering controls. These systems remove particles from the air as it passes through the HVAC equipment.

Administrative controls are management activities that keep employees from IAQ hazards. Among these is scheduling work to eliminate or reduce the amount of time an employee is exposed. For example, maintenance or cleaning should be scheduled when fewer buildings occupants are present.

Educating building occupants is another administrative control. If people who work in the building are knowledgeable about the sources and effects of pollutants and about operation of the ventilation system, they can take steps to reduce their personal exposure.

Good housekeeping can also help. Recommended practices include using mat systems that prevent dirt from entering the environment, disposing garbage promptly, storing food properly, and choosing cleaning products that minimize pollutants.

Sumber: hr.blr.com