We spend almost 90 per cent of our time indoors — either at home or at the office, thus indoor air quality is of utmost importance to us.
Air pollution inside buildings can come from a range of sources. Simple activities like daily cleaning or general refurbishment in the workplace can emit invisible particles which could impact staff well-being. Let’s look at some of the sources of indoor pollutants or low air quality.
Upholstery and decor items: Formaldehyde is a colourless gas pollutant, which can be released by furniture and wooden products containing formaldehyde-based resins. Carpets, carpet cleaners, wallpapers, paint, furniture and floor varnish could be a primary source of air pollution inside your offices.
Poor ventilation: Ventilation is a common method of controlling an indoor environment with airflow, often involving the movement of air between outdoors and indoors. One way to increase ventilation is by opening windows. However, by doing so poor air quality from the outdoors can come inside, particularly if the office space is in a city location with high traffic flow. On the other hand, built-in ventilation systems in spaces may not have adequate filtration systems, meaning that airborne pollutants are simply being blown around the room. These pollutants can include PM2.5, PM10, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), emitted from both indoor and outdoor activities.
Excessive use of cleaning products: Chemical-based cleaning products, hand sanitisers, air fresheners and personal care products too can generate Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) deteriorating the quality of air in your offices.
Cigarette smoke: Cigarette smoke can linger on a person’s skin and clothes. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), more commonly known as second-hand smoke, is a material in indoor air that originates from tobacco smoke and can cause toxic and detrimental to your health system.
Impact on well-being
Research indicates that occupants showed better cognitive performance and strategic reasoning when being in buildings with better air quality. For decision-making and rational thinking, feeling comfortable and alert in the workplace is critical. Opening windows or recirculating unfiltered air can trigger allergies or worsen existing symptoms for staff, if any, which can make them feel uncomfortable and therefore hinder performance.
The amount of exposure to harmful toxins and pollutants in your everyday workspaces can be managed and limited through air purifiers. Placing the right air purifiers, that provide accurate and successful sensing, can help in capturing and destruction of harmful pollutants, becoming a step toward improving indoor air quality.
Machines with fully sealed filtration systems are crucial to managing indoor air pollution. Some air purifiers combine HEPA-13 filters with a sealed filtration system — so the whole machine now achieves HEPA H13 grade. This ensures that 99.95 per cent of particles as small as 0.1 microns, including visible dust particles to hair, pollen, allergens and bacteria are trapped inside the machine
Dyson purifiers circulate air around the whole room and purify simultaneously. Not all filters and machines are created equal. The way they are designed, constructed and sealed determines the proportion of particles that are captured and those that are not. For years at Dyson, we’ve fine-tuned our expertise in filtration, beginning with the separation systems used in our vacuum cleaners and progressing to the cutting-edge technology integrated into Dyson purifiers.
A touch of Dyson purifiers
Sensing: Formaldehyde is a common indoor pollutant and one that is notoriously difficult to sense and capture. Dyson wanted to integrate a sensing and filtration system that could effectively counter this pollutant. By developing new sensing technology, Dyson sought to overcome issues associated with conventional formaldehyde sensors, including cross-sensitivity and a short sensing lifespan.
Capturing: In Dyson’s new purifiers, it’s not just the filter that meets HEPA H13 standard, but the whole machine. It captures 99.95 per cent of particles as small as 0.1 microns such as allergens, bacteria and dust.
Projecting: Using Dyson Air Multiplier Technology, the machine can project purified air to every corner of the room.The auto mode enables the machine to maintain a preferred room temperature and air quality levels, while the machine can be entirely controlled by the Dyson Link App and activated by voice control.
Acoustically engineered: Dyson engineers increased efforts to further reduce the sound output of the Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde air purifier while maintaining purification performance. Through an iterative design, test, the machine was re-engineered to be 20 per cent quieter.
The office can also adopt DIY and renovation products that don’t contain formaldehyde, and using a purification system within a space can help to remove this harmful gas indoors. In addition, using natural cleaning products can help lower the number of VOCs in indoor air.
The author is design manager, environmental care at Dyson