IAQ: If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it

The Safer Air Project plays a significant role in trying to grow public awareness, especially through their campaign “Making the invisible visible“.

Organisations around the world have been invited to join the campaign to monitor indoor air quality (IAQ) in real time and publicly display the data – although getting people to sign up can be a challenge in itself.

The Safer Air Project hosted a webinar about Making the invisible visible on Monday, August 17. Facilitator Plum Stone, Chief Executive Officer, The Safer Air Project, was joined by Jack Noonan, Head of Asia Pacific, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI); Sotirios Papathanasiou, founder of GO AQS; and Dr Hayley Teasdale, Head Science Advice and Policy, Australian Academy of Science.

Noonan said that while the Safer Air Project is a really accessible way for people to get involved, there can be issues with organisations sharing their IAQ results publicly.

“What we’ve seen as an industry is … this evolution of buildings that make us sick to buildings that make us well and healthy,” he said.

“The biggest issue I think that we have is that when you ask a facility manager to be public with their indoor air quality results, the first thing that they’re going to say is ‘Well, what if the results are bad?’

“We really need to educate facility managers and building owners and investors to see this as not just a way to manage risk, but a way to attract new opportunities as well.”

The shared air in public buildings is rarely monitored, although humans spend approximately 90% of their lives indoors.

Noonan said that when he started his career, monitoring IAQ was only done as a way to manage risk. In the last 10 years, he has seen a shift begin to happen as people become more informed.

“If an organisation is not being public with their IAQ data, or even if they’re not measuring it whatsoever, I think we’re going to see members of the community make a choice against that particular space,” he said.

As the public awareness has expanded, so has the technology that is available. Papathanasiou said there are many instruments you can measure indoor and outdoor air with, and that the technology has evolved as companies realise there is a need for a specific category of product.

“The most common technology is light scattering,” he said. “Then another parameter which is frequently measured is CO₂ carbon dioxide, and for that we use a technology which called NDRI (non-dispersive infrared).”

GO AQS (Global Open Air Quality Standards) is a science and policy research initiative that aims to establish and promote open, transparent, and scientifically-grounded air quality standards. It is made up of a collective of more than 200 industry professionals, researchers, and community representatives from over 30 countries.

Papathanasiou said the company plans to launch a global initiative this September enabling manufacturers to submit information about their air monitoring products, and GO AQS will compile that into a central resource for government and industry bodies.

Stone said the laws and regulations for IAQ already exist, it’s just a matter of organisations ensuring they monitor and reduce the risks associated with biological hazards.

“The key takeaways are really simple,” she said.

“Monitor your air quality. We have tools, we’ve got the technology.

“You don’t have to have super high-tech monitoring technology to be able to make it visible.

“It can be game changing for people who have big health impacts from exposure – either long-term exposure or short-term exposure – to poor indoor air quality.

“Being able to give people the information that they need to determine whether or not the space is safe for them, I just think is so important.”

The webinar recording is available to watch here, or find out more about the Safer Air Project here.

Feature image courtesy of sam_higgins_rulz from Pixabay.

---