While at work, you usually spend so much time organizing your list of tasks, making preparations for the next team conference, and even thinking about what to eat for lunch – but how many hours have you spent contemplating the quality of the air you breathe at work?
Workplace indoor air quality is a topic that is often overlooked, but in reality, it plays an essential role on health and productivity than many may have thought.
If you are now curious about the quality of your office’s air, experts say there are infallible signs that you should watch out for. Today, we’ll share with you the most common ones.
Coughing and respiratory issues
Poor indoor air quality at work can manifest in coughing and other respiratory infections like bronchitis and pneumonia, which, if left unaddressed can lead to serious complications and death.
Frequent exposure to poor indoor air quality at work decreases the lungs and the entire immune system to function well, thereby increasing an employee’s vulnerability to respiratory illnesses.
Dizziness and nausea
Both dizziness and nausea can be a sign of bad workplace indoor air quality. These symptoms are often caused by volatile organic compounds which may come from wall paints, new carpeting, office furniture, and cleaning chemicals.
Damage to building materials
Many building materials such as wood get easily damaged by unregulated humidity and other air pollutants. If you see cracks, warpings, fractures, sags, chips, and more, your work environment may be giving you signals that you need to be extra observant with your indoor air before it completely damages your facility and doubles your maintenance expenses.
Weird smells
You may not be able to see the different gasses and particles that make up your workplace indoor air. However, these pollutants can trigger your sense of smell and let you know if there is something insidious lingering in the air around you.
If your workplace smells musty, chances are your facility has mold and mildew hiding out and with this, proper cleaning is necessary. Foul smell can also be released through practicing proper ventilation. Adequate air flow allows bad indoor air to be replaced with fresher and cleaner air from outdoors.
Dust buildup
Dust in the air contributes to reduced workplace indoor air quality. It can make employees experience breathing problems, allergies, and eye, skin, and throat irritation which can weaken their productivity and work performance. Additionally, dusty office equipment, shelves, and materials are an eyesore. Also, if you have products that have been on its shelves long enough to accumulate dust, your customers are likely to get turned off after seeing it.
Here’s another way to tell if something bad is in your workplace air
Many pollutants are quite hard to see, but to be able to detect indoor air pollution and prevent worse health and workplace scenarios from happening, building managers and employers must consider using indoor air quality monitors.
Indoor air quality monitors are devices that are used to track and evaluate the presence of gasses, chemicals, and other air contaminants in every workplace. With your air being monitored continuously, you will be able to gain accurate IAQ data that is useful when taking actions to address issues and prevent a wide variety of health problems, increase workplace comfort, optimize employee productivity and foster trust between your employees and the management.
Have the right technology to track and remove poor indoor air quality at work. Get uHoo Aura today!
References:
- Sobieskiinc.com
- Cdc.gov
- Worldgbc.org
- resphealth.org
