Productivity and Indoor Air Quality

How is your facility’s Indoor Air Quality? Do you notice smells, dust particles in the air, or sickness that seems to spread amongst staff like wildfire? 

You've probably heard talk about Indoor Air Quality, but what is it, and why do people keep talking about it? Indoor air quality is a major contributing factor to the overall health and safety of your facility. Specifically, Indoor air quality is used to describe the level of cleanliness of the air being circulated throughout your building. Keeping your facility healthy takes many steps, but providing a clean environment for employees is essential for fostering productivity.

Do you notice that when one employee is sick, it spreads fast? This can be an indication of poor indoor air quality. Poor ventilation, contaminated filters, wet or dirty carpet, and reduced air circulation can all deteriorate the air quality in your facility. How can you improve it? 

Regular dusting is a great first step. High vents, above cabinets and appliances, shelves, and baseboards are dust magnets, and often overlooked when dusting. Having a thorough carpet care plan can eliminate dust and dirt build up. Using a HEPA filtered vacuum daily can help prevent dust from kicking up and entering the air supply. Consider scheduling regular carpet deep cleans, which can keep carpet cleaner and maintain the quality of your floors. 

Encourage employees to upkeep personal areas. For example, suggest a weekly desk deep clean. Clearing off the desk and going through clutter is a great way to start, or end the week. (Who doesn’t want to see a freshly organized desk on Mondays?) Decluttering spaces not only reduces dust, but encourages productivity by minimizing distractions.

Finally, two of the most important aspects of indoor air quality. Keeping your ventilation system clean! Air ventilation is meant to replace indoor air with fresh outdoor air, which keeps circulating air crisp. Checking on the air filtering system is crucial. Filters that are old and contaminated do more harm than good. 

These tips are all a great way to jump start your facility’s journey to a clean, healthy facility. Summit is here to help you be committed to keeping your facilty, clients, and employees happy and healthy.