Standards for Building Ventilating
Heating ventilation and air conditioning system is designed to keep occupants comfortable and healthy by controlling the amount of outside air that is added to the building atmosphere, filtering both incoming and recirculated air to remove particulates and controlling the temperature. The HVAC system includes all heating, cooling, and ventilation equipment serving a building: furnaces or boilers, chillers, cooling towers, air handling units, exhaust fans, ductwork, filters, steam (or heating water) piping. A ventilation system consists of a blower to move the air, ductwork to deliver air to the room, and vents to distribute the air. A good ventilation design will distribute supply air uniformly to each area and especially areas with office machines. An effectively designed area will not have the supply and exhaust vent too close together because fresh air may be removed before it is adequately distributed throughout the area. Exhaust fans are often located a significant distance away from supply vents. A simple way to determine if the ventilation system is running a vent as a supply or an exhaust is by holding a tissue near the vent.] If the tissue moves, the air is being circulated and the direction the tissue is blown will determine the type of vent.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is an increasingly important issue in the work environment. The study of indoor air quality and pollutant levels within office environments is a complex problem. The complexity of studying and measuring the quality of office environments arises from various factors including:
– Building floor plans are frequently changing https://xn--o79a580c0rar92a2lh.com/ to accommodate increasingly more employees and reorganization.
– Office buildings frequently undergo building renovations such as installation of new carpet, modular office partitions and free-standing offices, and painting.
Many of the apparent health symptoms are vague and common to both the office and home environment. Guidelines or standards for permissible personal exposure limits to pollutants within office buildings are very limited.
Many times odors are associated with chemical contaminants from inside or outside the office space, or from the building fabric. This is particularly noticeable following building renovation or installation of new carpeting. Out-gassing from such things as paints, adhesives, sealants, office furniture, carpeting, and vinyl wall coverings is the source of a variety of irritant compounds. In most cases, these chemical contaminants can be measured at levels above ambient (normal background) but far below any existing occupational evaluation criteria.
