Why is air quality important for safety at work?

For companies, air quality control is critical because unfavourable environmental conditions can become a major source of stress in the execution of tasks in any work situation. These factors can cause discomfort, high absenteeism, altered temperament, dissatisfaction and poor performance at work, as well as increase the risk of accidents, costs and cause considerable damage to the health of employees.

There is a great association between environmental comfort and symptoms among workers exposed to indoor environments, that is, environments with artificial ventilation and air conditioning. Studies have shown that the occupants of these venues presented a high percentage of persistent symptoms, of lower or greater severity, such as: allergy, headache, eye and mucous membrane irritation, sore throat, dizziness, nausea and fatigue in general, not attributable to personal factors of sensibility or disease, which disappear shortly after leaving the premises, it is evident that the symptoms were related to the environmental conditions of the site in question.

It is evident that in confined environments, with little or no air renewal, it becomes rapidly unpleasant and even unbreathable, due to the accumulation of internally generated pollutants, which cannot be eliminated or sufficiently diluted because such places do not have windows to obtain air renewal. It is also known how easy the respiratory diseases can be transmitted by a single patient in those places, using as a vehicle the own air-conditioning duct.

For a comfortable environment, the humidity must be around 50%, with values above or below, besides causing discomfort, can also cause problems in the airways and favour the growth of microorganisms. One should stick to the control of systems with humidification. High levels of particulate matter should also be checked, which reveals the cleanliness of air-conditioned environments, the purity of the air, and may pose problems with air filtering devices.

There are no comprehensive legally binding regulations for quality requirements regarding indoor air in Europe. Instead, many evaluation values exist, which are called guide values, orientation values or target values, for example. In Germany, a CO₂ value of 0.15 vol % (= 1500 ppm) applies as a hygienic guide value according to DIN 1946 Part 2.

The indoor guide values for CO₂ were published by the Indoor Air Hygiene Commission (IRK) of the Federal Ministry of the Environment and the State Health Authority 20.

The air exchange is described as insufficient when the CO₂ concentration exceeds the value of 2000 ppm several times a day for a brief time. At workplaces which are subject to the stipulations of the Dangerous Substance Directive, a workplace limit value of 5000 ppm carbon dioxide applies according to TRGS 900.

Monitoring indoor air can improve even the results by increasing the performance at work and study while lowering absentee rates.

According to studies carried out, there is a loss of human efficiency of 1.8% for each degree of increase of the ambient temperature above 24ºC. There are also studies indicating that occupational accidents increase as the thermal comfort of the environment decreases.

CO₂ measurement technology

The Testo i60 IAQ (161-2897) measures temperature and humidity without interruption, in addition to CO₂. The measurement values are transmitted by wireless LAN to the Cloud, allowing alarm notifications of limit value violations by e-mail or SMS. The easily visible air quality traffic light also ensures that the responsible people see the indoor air quality status at a glance.