INDOOR AIR QUALITY
A balancing act
Indoor air quality has perhaps never been so important, with increasing pressure to ensure our country’s buildings are well-ventilated and occupants are provided with a clean, healthy and pleasant indoor environment. Here, Martin Passingham, product and training manager at Daikin UK, explores the importance of indoor air quality and the key role that ventilation can play in ensuring effective delivery of the same.
W
hen it comes to keeping healthy, the standard advice usually revolves around the importance of regular exercise and eating well. But there’s another aspect of our daily lives that can have a significant impact on our health and well-being – the quality of the air inside the spaces where we live, work and socialise.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution from both indoor and outdoor sources represents the single largest environmental risk to health globally, causing seven million deaths a year around the world. In the UK alone, Public Health England estimates
22 October 2020
that air pollution is responsible for between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year, costing the NHS and private healthcare sector £20bn annually.
Indoor air quality is defined as the quality of the air in and around a building, particularly in relation to the health and comfort of occupants. Despite its title, indoor air quality can be affected by numerous factors, including pollution from both interior and exterior sources. Sources of outdoor pollution can include road traffic, industrial processes and construction and demolition sites, with particulate matter, NO2, CO and pollen all able to enter a building
through natural and mechanical ventilation or by infiltrating through the building fabric. Indoor pollution sources can include Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are given off by wall and floor coverings, furniture and appliances; dust, damp and mould; emissions from office equipment and machinery; and, of course, people themselves, breathing out CO2 and spreading colds and viruses.
The effects of such air pollution can range from the mild to the extremely serious, especially when exposed over a number of years. In the short term, poor air quality can irritate the eyes and respiratory systems, as well as causing dizziness,
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