For many businesses and workplaces, air quality is not often made a priority (unless you work in industries like healthcare and aerospace, where good air quality is essential). Nevertheless, poor air quality can create a lot of problems in the workplace, as you will see below.
Common Problems Related to Workplace Air Quality
-
Building Issues
Poor air quality is not an isolated problem. There are related problems occurring as well, including inadequately maintained heating and ventilation systems.
Contamination due to various construction materials, glues, fiberglass, and so on are additional problems that are commonly associated with poor indoor air quality.
Both of these put the health and safety of your workplace at risk.
-
Health Concerns
One of the most common issues related to poor workplace air quality is health complaints.
There is an actual term for this – it’s called sick building syndrome, and it leads to various health problems like headaches, dizziness, and respiratory problems to name just a few.
Sick building syndrome is also linked to increased absenteeism and reduced work efficiency.
-
Lost Time and Money
Many businesses don’t realize how much time and money they are losing when they fail to prioritize air quality.
As you saw above, poor air quality leads to increased absenteeism, which inevitably leads to lost profits. A Harvard School of Public Health study found that poor air quality leads to a loss of $400 per employee, every single year.
-
Low Productivity
Lastly, poor indoor air quality is also linked with a loss of productivity in the workplace. There are a couple of reasons for this. First is the fact that poor workplace air quality leads to increased rates of absenteeism in the workplace.
However, poor indoor air quality is also linked with cognitive problems and poor decision-making skills, according to a Harvard study.
Wrapping It Up
Poor workplace air quality rarely exists in a vacuum. It is much more of a symptom of other possible problems, like poorly maintained ventilation systems or various contaminants.
This then creates additional problems in the workplace, including health and safety concerns, and lost productivity and profits.
APC Filtration has been working in air filter engineering and manufacturing for more than three decades. We develop filters to protect both households and a variety of industries. Contact us for more information.
