What You Need To Know To Make Decisions About Air Care.

 

What is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)? A good general definition of IAQ is how indoor air affects the health and well-being to those exposed to it. In the most simplistic sense, you maintain good IAQ by keeping the indoor environment dry, clean, and control contaminants. Technically speaking, IAQ is defined by how indoor air satisfies three basic requirements for human occupancy:

1. Thermal acceptability.
2. Maintenance of normal concentrations of respiratory gases.
3. Prevention, dilution, and removal of contaminants and pollutants to levels below health or odor discomfort thresholds.

Good IAQ enhances occupant health, comfort, and workplace productivity.

Why has IAQ become an issue?

IAQ has been an issue ever since humans lived indoors and have tried to control their indoor environments. However, the development of knowledge and science on the IAQ of modern buildings is relatively new. Our greater awareness of what IAQ is and how to achieve good IAQ is a rapidly developing science. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that we spend 90% of our time indoors. The concentration of indoor airborne pollutants is often two to five times higher than outdoor concentrations.

Much of the energy conservation measure of the 1970's served to "tighten" today's buildings. Many building owners and managers also reduced the amount of outside air and decreased maintenance to cut costs. In addition, the extensive use of synthetic building materials and furnishings greatly impact the quality of indoor air. These measures made our buildings more sensitive to sources of poor IAQ. The result generally reduced the quality of indoor air and increased the potential for microbial growth especially when water related problems occur.

Furthermore, while "hard" expenses such as energy and maintenance costs were reduced, the "elusive" expenses from lost productivity, increased likelihood for illness, and increased absenteeism can be quite large.

Who should be concerned?

All of us!

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 30% of all commercial buildings exhibit signs of "sick" tendencies.

Is poor IAQ expensive?

• In several instances, remediation expenditures have approached the building's original cost of construction.
• Per employee productivity loss attributable to indoor air pollution is estimated to be 3% (14 minutes/day).
• The EPA estimates that the cost of poor IAQ to our economy is in the "tens of billions of dollars."
• The American Medical Association reports that health care costs related to IAQ total $15 billion annually and 150 million person-days a year are lost in absenteeism.
• Given that salaries and wages are the most significant building operating expense, energy efficient but "sick" buildings can easily cost more in productivity loss than they gain in energy savings.

Could poor IAQ become a LEGAL liability?

• Recently, employees working in the Central Parkway building in Hamilton County, Ohio successfully sued the building owners for a total of $1.62 million in a class action lawsuit.
• Five EPA employees were recently awarded $948,000 in a sick building syndrome case.
• A jury awarded $4.2 million to 14 employees in the district attorney's office of San Joaquin, CA as compensation for exposure to chemical substances in carpeting, paints, and adhesives in the new county courthouse.
• "Call vs. Prudential Insurance Company of America (1990)" took four years to settle out-of-court for an undisclosed sum.
• IAQ lawsuits are based on: negligence, strict liability, and breach of contract.
• What makes the situation worse is that most insurance policies covering building owners/managers, architects, engineers, and contractors specifically exclude coverage on IAQ problems.

Is it difficult to achieve good IAQ?

• Most IAQ problems (80%) can be diagnosed and mitigated inexpensively by trained professionals.
• Management attention to IAQ issues is vital to any effort to achieve good IAQ.
• Most measures taken to prevent IAQ problems are the same as ones to mitigate problems.

 

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