Environment Archives - Healthy Environments

How to Choose the Right Company for Indoor Air Quality Testing?

The priority about indoor air quality testing is to finds a company that would completely assess the condition of indoor air at home or work place. Currently, the knowledge and skill level of professionals offering the service varies. There are very regulations which govern the testing services, excepting the situations in which contaminants such as radon and asbestos are involved. If you suspect any indoor air quality issue, it is better to get in touch with a company that offers such testing services.

Check for pollutants in air

Find a reliable company that would be able to conduct thorough indoor air quality testing which would be able to identify the contaminants in the air. The company should be able to identify the pollutants as well as provide proper solutions to control it or remove it. Along with this, the company should be able to check for air moisture by various methods.

Experienced in the field

Hiring a company that doesn’t have much experience in the related field isn’t the right thing to do. You need to choose a company that has been providing proper methods of testing and gives suitable results. You also need to check if the company has worked with commercial buildings or residential buildings and then decide whether to hire them or not.

Check reviews

When you hire a company offering you air quality testing at home or office, you must check their reputation. Most of the established companies have their website where you can get information about the type of testing service they provide, clients they have worked for, etc. You can also check for customer reviews and feedbacks. Remember that customer references are helpful.

Prompt service

Companies dealing with indoor air quality testing understand the hour of the need, so they provide prompt and fast service. They are also open to questions, queries that you might have and help you understand the service they provide without being disturbed. However, you need to ensure that there are no extra ordinary promises and surprises that relate to additional cost.

Indoor Air Quality Testing- What Should You Know?

One of the most common misconceptions is that outdoor air is more polluted than indoor air. But in reality, indoor air too can be quite polluted. The indoor air quality is compromised due to the presence of dust, dirt and more. What most people aren’t aware is that air pollutants give rise to serious health issues ranging from coughing, sneezing, allergies to serious diseases. Simply avoiding it isn’t the right solution, you need to conduct indoor air quality testing to help you deal to find the condition of indoor air.

Indoor air quality- overview

Indoor air quality refers to the air quality within the building, including your home or workplace as this relates to the health and safety of the occupants. There is no doubt that as the home owner you would try your best to keep the home clean by vacuuming, disinfecting and more. However, you need to know that disinfecting doesn’t reduce the indoor air pollutants. You need proper methods and professional help to deal with it.

Indoor air quality monitoring and testing

Indoor air quality monitoring is a method of indoor air quality testing, assessing and identifying the problem such as pollutants within the home or office. In fact, your health and fitness depend on a lot of indoor air quality monitoring. There are several methods of testing available. You can choose as per your need and by talking to the company you have assigned the task to check. However, there are two main types of testing.

Integrated Sampling (long term) – in this type of method, the sample is usually collected at least 8 hours to 24 hours. It is collected in a filter paper by passing some amount of air. The filter paper is then sent to the laboratory for testing.

Real time measurement (short term)- in the method, experts use real time monitors to detect the pollutant sources as well as the level of pollutants throughout the day.

How to improve the indoor air quality?

Buy houseplants as it absorbs chemicals in the air and helps keep indoor air fresh and clean.
Conduct regular testing or as per needed to identify the condition of air pollutants
Control a number of chemicals used in office buildings or homes.

Must Know Methods for Indoor Air Quality Testing

It is true that sources of origin of accumulated volatile chemicals are not restricted to one. This badly affects the quality of breathing air inside an apartment. Active contribution of contaminants, dust, construction activities, the smoke of cigarette and growth of microbial organisms calls for indoor air quality testing and improvement. It is the best platform providing preventive measures to unload internal pollution. Improving the quality of indoor air with various testing methods is absolutely essential for leading a better and healthier life.

Types of methods used for testing indoor air quality

Keeping air clean is the first and most crucial step towards healthy living. In fact, it is one of the major keys to keeping a place free from harmful bacteria, germs, dust, dirt, grime and debris. Indoor air quality improvement helps in giving an individual a happy, healthier and most importantly disease free life. The origin of severe diseases like asthma, cough and cold and even cancer can be due to the poor quality of indoor air. Here present some musk know techniques for gifting occupant of a living and working place a life which is free from major and minor diseases:

- The foremost step towards improving the quality of breathing air is to make an effective inspection of the entire apartment. This is the just the beginning of the testing method for enhancing the indoor air quality.

Testing of mould, fungi and infectious elements present in a house or office can give an impressive result. In spite of being the second step, it plays a vital role in creating a healthy and germ-free environment.

Improvement of the ventilation system and circulation of air of a building is the last but not the least method which is globally accepted and appreciated for indoor air quality testing.

There is a common saying that ‘prevention is better than cure’. Testing methods implemented by an experienced professional for improving the air quality of an apartment’s interior did justice to the statement. So, hiring an expert is the first and best option to improve the quality of indoor air with latest testing tools.

Indoor Air Quality Testing – Significance and Impact

It is true that neat and clean environment is the key to lead a healthier life. Keeping the indoor and outdoor portion of an apartment free from grime and dust is essential to living in a better environment. Keeping the indoor air of an apartment in good condition helps an occupant to breathe in a fresh and healthy ambience. Making an investment in indoor air quality testing is worthwhile for an owner of a residential or commercial apartment. While improving the quality of air in a place of living and working, this platform gives a disease-free life to its occupants.

Factors that maximize the need for testing of indoor air quality:

There are endless reasons which call for the need of indoor air quality enhancement. It can be due to the poor condition of the ventilation system of a house or office. Poor circulation of air in an apartment can also hamper the respiratory organ of its occupants. Inadequate sunlight, uncontrolled humidity, bad odor, mold and fungi are some basic yet major factors that affect the quality of indoor air of a place of living and working.

Testing of quality of indoor air – Benefits

Testing and improvement of the quality of indoor air are crucial for making a place free from debris, grime, dust and dirt. In fact, it puts a restriction to severe diseases like asthma, cough and even cancer. Basically, an apartment and its occupants can get rid of these diseases while getting an opportunity to breathe in fresh air by spending time, effort and money on indoor air quality testing. Basically, this platform puts an end to major and minor health issues.

Proper inspection of a place is the first and most crucial step towards improving the quality of indoor air. Testing of mold, fungi, infectious bacteria and germs is the ultimate platform to breathe in fresh air. This major tool improves the level of ventilation system as well as air circulation. Humidity and temperature of a place can be controlled with latest indoor air quality improvement and testing tools. One can live and work in a germ-free area with this highly effective tool.

Indoor Air Quality Testing Reveals The True Quality Of Atmosphere Inside Your Home

indoor-air-quality-testing

Home is the safest environment. The best place to return to after a day at work, be with your family, enjoy your favourite TV series, play, take shelter from outside weather, other harms and just be at home. Most of the efforts that you make are for creating a favourable home environment for a healthy and happy life for your family members – parents, spouse and kids. You have almost done everything to ensure a safe and secure home environment but have you considered indoor air quality testing? If not it’s time you pay attention to it.

Why Pay Attention To Indoor Air Quality?

It is a common assumption that indoor air is clean and healthy because it is ‘indoor air.’ We tend to over a few things which pollute our indoor air, right inside our home. Health experts have identified indoor air pollution as one of the most important and dangerous causes of death. Inhabitants of a home are in closest proximity with indoor air and when indoor air gets polluted, it is a highly dense polluted air and highly dangerous when inhaled. Thus, indoor air poses a far greater threat than outdoor air.

What Threatens Indoor Air And Why You Must Consider Indoor Air Quality Testing?

The air circulating inside your house is not immune to pollution. Besides outside sources, it can get contaminated with agents inside the house as well. So it is unquestionably important to test the quality of your indoor air from time to time. Let’s take a look at some of the definitive reasons what makes indoor air quality testing a mandatory practice.

- Your cooking gas and other gases released from combustion of fuel while cooking polluted your indoor air. You cannot stop cooking, so periodically testing indoor air quality will help you check the amount of pollution and clean the air.

- The consumer products that you used like glue, paints, shower curtains, printers and others tend to produce lots of vapour particles, even at room temperature. Being exposed to such vapours from volatile organic compounds can frequently cause headaches and nausea. It can also escalate to brain damage and cancer in the long term.

- Warm and humid conditions inside your home are the perfect breeding ground for moulds and other mischievous pollutants. Effects of these fungi depend on the sensitivity of people living in the house. Elders and children may easily get affected by it because of their high sensitivity.

- Besides mould, dust, dander and droppings from rodents and insects highly pollute indoor air. These cause allergic reactions and can aggravate to severe illness, in the long term.

Indoor air is not as safe as it was assumed. However, indoor air quality testing is the first step to ensure a truly healthy environment for your family.

5 Elements That Disturb Your Indoor Air Quality

Clean air and water are two of the most important determinants of healthy living. You can survive without food for some days even without water but never without air. Impurities in air that you breathe are the cause of some serious health hazards. Asthma and allergic diseases are most common besides hay fever, headache, nausea, digestive problems, nervous system abnormalities and others. Indoor air quality testing is gaining importance with time because of recent discoveries that puts the onus of health on indoor air.

Experts have observed that polluted indoor air is more harmful than polluted outdoor air. Its impact on your health is more. Also since inhabitants are closer to suspended polluted air particles, it reaches the lungs faster and causes a harder damage than polluted outdoor air.

What Pollutes Your Indoor Air?

Your home is the safest place on Earth but unfortunately, the polluted air inside your home threatens you more than outdoor pollution. Let’s take a look at the culprits which are responsible for this menace.

- Tobacco smoke: Your addiction to tobacco products like cigarette is one of the major sources of indoor air pollutants. It directly affects your family members.

Cosmetic products: Cosmetic products like hair sprays, deodorants and perfumes have high content of volatile organic compounds which contaminates your indoor air.

Cooking furnaces: Whether you are cooking on a liquid petroleum gas or oil or wood, it releases carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen into your indoor air. These effects from this source of indoor pollution could be averted by installing chimneys but it doesn’t guarantee your safety.

Lead-based paints: Your freshly colored walls could be the cause of breathing problem in your child and parents. Lead containing colors highly pollute indoor air. The strong smell is proof of presence of high levels of toxins in the color.

Homely equipment: Coolers, hot water tanks and kerosene heaters are common equipment in households for preventing from heat and cold. But these too pollute your indoor air. These damp materials produce biological contaminants which disturbs your indoor air.

indoor air quality testing

This can help you to have an estimate of efforts that you would need to put to cleanse your indoor air and actually create a safe environment for your loved ones.

Indoor Air Quality Testing – Key to Breathe Fresh Air and Live Healthy

‘Health’ is something which can’t be purchased at any cost. This gives rise to a very common saying ‘health is wealth’. Keys to a healthier life are not restricted to one. Good food and healthy drinks ensures better living of an individual. Nutritious lifestyle can be achieved by eating healthy. Adopting a healthy lifestyle becomes convenient with indoor air quality testing.

Like outside air, environment of the interior of a living and working place can cause severe health issues. In fact, unhealthy indoor environment can give rise to respiratory problems. Occupants of a residential or commercial apartment are exposed to various kinds of contaminants, cleaning products, carpets and smoke of cigarette.

Inadequate sunlight and weak ventilation system can surround an occupant with diseases like cancer, flu, asthma and many more. Poor air circulation results in microbial growth which actually hampers the heath of an individual. All these minor sounding keys can lead to a big disaster. This is where the need of testing of indoor air quality arises.

Strategies used for testing of indoor air quality:

1. Inspection of the entire indoor area is the first and most crucial step to remove pollutants from the air.

2. Improvement in the ventilation system is must. It is superb way to make a living or working place free from harmful chemicals, dust, grime and bacteria.

3. Indoor pollutants can be reduced rather removed by enhancing the quality of indoor air.

4. Mold being one of the most authentic sources of moisture can make the indoor air polluted. Determining the organism of the mold and testing it as per the requirement of the area is the key to breathe in fresh air.

5. Removal of microorganisms from a house or office is must. It is considered as one of the most crucial step towards healthy living.

In today’s time, air cleaners are used widely for indoor air quality testing. In fact, professionals related to the field of cleaning prefer using this highly advanced equipment for removing contaminants from every corner of a building. Choosing a reliable firm is also recommended for testing, cleaning and improving the quality of indoor air.

Top 3 Reasons to Conduct Hazardous Substance Risk Assessment in Workplaces

Hazardous substances in workplaces can be a reason for different health problems. These substances can also cause serious diseases like dermatitis, cancer or asthma. Before discussing what risks hazardous substances involved, we need to know what hazardous substances actually are. They can be of different forms that are used in many workplaces. There are many reasons that workplaces should conduct a hazardous substance risk assessment. Our body can be affected by hazardous substances in many ways. In case these substances come to our skin contact or enter into our body through inhalation, it can cause damage to our body.

hazardous-substance-risk-assessment

Hazardous substances can affect greatly to the cleaners, welders, hairdressers, garage workers, bakery workers and healthcare staff. But in reality, there is a never ending list of people who can be affected by hazardous substances. It is highly important to conduct a hazardous substance risk assessment in your workplace.

Importance of Hazardous substance risk assessment in workplaces

Financial reasons:

It is quite clear that if your workplace is safe, your employees will be safe. And if your employees are safe, the productivity of your business will be increased to a great extent. Ill-health and accidents inflict significant costs. By conducting a hazardous substance risk assessment in the workplace, employers can save the cost.

Legal reasons:

A workplace needs to conduct a risk assessment not only because of financial reason but also to maintain the health and safety law in workplaces. The health and safety authority inspectors visit workplaces to investigate if the employers are maintaining safety and health inside the workplace. They also scrutinize the risk assessment, work practices and the safety statement in the workplace.

Ethical reasons:

Since the employers are ethically bound to take care of their employees, they should conduct a hazardous substance risk assessment to prevent accidents and ill-health at work.

So, keep your workplace safe and secured by conducting hazardous substance risk assessment today. Make sure you have hired professionals to do the same.

Top 4 FAQs about Workplace Noise Assessment

Workplace noise assessment

We cannot imagine a workplace without noise. This noise can be extremely harmful. The louder the noise is, the more harmful it is. The employees can be a victim of hearing loss due to excessive noise in the workplace. Therefore, workplace noise assessment is extremely important, especially the noisy workplaces like foundries, factories, airports, construction sites, require noise assessment to save the employees from hearing loss. Below are discussed a few frequently asked questions about workplace noise assessment.

FAQ 1

When should I conduct a workplace noise assessment?

It is always recommended to conduct the noise assessment during the design stage of any workplace before buying new equipment so that you can save the employees from loud noise. This means, before the first undertaking work, the noise check should be conducted. If your workplace is within an area of an existing factory or warehouse, noise assessment needs to be carried out.

FAQ 2

Who should undertake the noise assessment?

A person from science or engineering background with health and safety regulations can undertake the noise assessment. S/he should have the basic understandings of the sound waves and the physic of the sound. S/he should understand how the sound waves can affect people. The person should also have a clear understanding of the operational use of different noise measuring equipment.

FAQ 3

What is the process of workplace noise assessment? Or

How is the workplace noise assessment carried out?

At first, the workplaces undertake the preliminary noise survey, in order to know the representative noise levels in the workplace. Once the preliminary noise assessment is done, a detailed noise assessment is conducted in order to evaluate and measure the daily noise of similar exposure group or SEGs (noise exposure of a similar group of employees). Depending on the length of the working shift, the assessment of the noise exposure is determined.

FAQ 4

What are the confounding factors that affect the noise assessment?

A few factors like HAV (Hand Arm Vibration) and ototoxic agents enhance the risk of the industrial deafness because of the high noise levels. With the workplace noise assessment, it is possible to measure the HAV and the ototoxic agents and minimize the hearing loss of the employees.

As an employer, your first responsibility is to understand whether your employees are safe at their workplace or not. They will give you 100% only when you will take care of them. So, conduct a workplace noise assessment today to keep your workers healthy.

Top 4 Reasons You Need Indoor Air Quality Testing

We always shout about air pollution outdoors. But we never think that air pollution indoors can be even more dangerous. You cannot feel the pollutants that are present in the air indoors, but your lungs can. There are a number of signs that will indicate you that you need an indoor air quality testing in your office or home. Some of them are –

Too much humidity in the office space
Lingering odors
Stale and stuffy air
People start suffering from health issues like skin problems, nausea, headaches and respiratory issues while they are in office.

If the above signs are present in your office or in your home, it is the high time to understand that you need an indoor air quality testing urgently. However, here are a few reasons why indoor air quality testing is highly important for your home as well as your office.

You can breathe easier:

If your indoor air quality is tested by an expert, you can be assured that you are breathing pure and healthy air. So by checking the air quality and taking necessary step/s, you can help your employees (who have allergies or breathing problem) to stay fit.

Odor vanishes magically:

Workplace air quality monitoring helps you in suppressing bad odor (because of poor airflow and filtration). By doing the test, you can develop the clammy and dim place into an ideal one.

Radon check:

Radon is one of the most dangerous air pollutants indoors. This gas is tasteless and odorless and releases from the soil. It is highly important to be vigilant while the radon testing is going on at your home.

Makes your home mold free:

Fungi are one of the biggest reasons of air pollution. They do well in warm and muggy conditions. Molds can be found in bathrooms, cellars or the places where there is moisture. These molds can be the reasons of wheezing, nasal stuffiness and skin rashes. By doing the air testing, you can understand what the humidity level of your office or home is. If the humidity level is more than 50%, you can use a dehumidifier in order to dry out the air.

Never compromise with your or your employees’ health. Make an indoor air quality testing today by experts and stay healthy.