It’s not unusual to hear people talk about ‘bad air’, or to hear workers complain about the office environment making them feel ill.

Is there anything to these claims? How can we tell if our health really is being put at risk due to the poor quality of the air we are breathing?

Duty of Care

Under the Health & Safety at Work Act and the Workers Liability Act of 1984, employers have a duty of care to provide a safe and healthy working environment. The Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations and their accompanying Approved Code of Practice state that “Indoor air quality should be at least equal to, but ideally better than, the air outside of your building.”

In practice, what does this mean?

•Reducing chemical concentrations

There is an HSE document (EH40) which lists the maximum exposure limits for a range of gases so these should definitely not be exceeded. Interestingly, the source of some of these gases (Known as Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs) might actually be from daily activities such as cleaning. Standard office equipment too, such a printers and copiers – might also be adding to the potentially unhealthy chemical mix.

•Removing impurities

The Workplace Regulations require every enclosed workplace to be ventilated “by a sufficient quantity of fresh, purified air” and the ACOP goes on to specify that air should be “free from any impurity which is likely to be offensive or cause ill health”.  We are all familiar with the problems of air pollution caused by traffic or industrial processes (perhaps even activities within your own job role) and these may therefore be an issue if you are in an urban area or have manufacturing nearby.

•Eliminating bacteria and viruses

There is another form of air pollution which we are perhaps only now coming to understand and that is contamination of a bacterial or viral nature. The current Coronavirus pandemic has certainly focussed the mind on how an airborne virus can spread from person to person. To ensure entirely safe indoor air we must therefore also remove particles which spread disease.

How can your employer keep you safe?

In order to ensure the health and safety of all staff members -and to stay on the right side of the law- your employer must anticipate and address any issues with air quality, and this may mean carrying out one, some or all of the following: -

•Risk Assessment

•Cleaning & Disinfection of ventilation systems

•Air Quality Monitoring on an on-going basis

•Air Filtration
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Standard filtration may not be enough

At KSG Health we know all about providing clean, healthy and safe air. Our Genano air purification devices don’t simply remove the contamination which can be seen, their ability to filter out particles down to nano size means that they also eliminate the invisible hazards such as bacteria, mould spores and, most importantly, viruses.

In our business we believe that the only way of knowing that your air is of truly clean quality is to pass it through Genano technology and that’s why our systems are already used in organisations and hospitals around the world.

To find out more about our world-class technology and how we eliminate ‘bad air risks’ to workers, visit www.ksghealth.com