How To Know If Your Factory Or Workplace Needs A Ventilation Solution

You’d be hard pushed to find anyone on Earth who isn’t aware of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ventilation in the factory or workplace is the concern of all workers who value their health and wellbeing. So unless you work in the great outdoors, you should concern yourself with how fresh the air is in your work environment.

Who hasn’t taken fresh air for granted? Pre-pandemic, ventilation and air quality indoors didn’t get the same attention that it’s getting now. What’s changed? The real experiences of catching airborne COVID-19 via small droplets and particles. Today business owners realise to keep their staff safe at work, the factory or office must have an effective ventilation system.

Had to step up and take ownership of righting the wrong with ineffective ventilation systems in the workplace. However, there are steps you can take to make the air indoors cleaner and purer, too. Furthermore, there are plenty of good reasons you want to improve indoor air quality in your factory by improving ventilation. Here are 6 reasons why factories must be well ventilated.

Studies also confirm good air quality can improve productivity and vice versa, i.e. air pollution can stifle both the quality of work and how much of it is done. Remote working is now preferred by workers the world over, so to get them back to the workplace for some if not all the work week will require your business to prove you’re taking their health and wellbeing seriously with great air quality.

Health and Safety

Governments require businesses to look after workers health and safety in the workplace, so it is a must-do for every organisation. There’s no escaping climate change and how we pollute the air with industry. When in confined spaces, the quality of air has a bigger impact on our health and productivity. Therefore ventilation systems are needed to remove hazardous pollutants and fumes, including:

• Chemicals
• Fuel-burning
• Heating and cooling systems
• Moisture

There are many negative side effects of poor air quality, including:

• Fatigue
• Eye irritation
• Skin rashes
• Headaches
• Coughing, sneezing
• Sinuses
• Dizziness

Plus, where there is a high mold, employees prone to asthma attacks and respiratory infections will suffer and take more sick days.

While there’s the investment to improve the ventilation system, the upside is not only fewer sick days and higher productivity, businesses will likely see an improvement in energy use.

Energy Efficiency

Good ventilation will eliminate hot and cold spots in the building. By increasing the airflow and maintaining an even temperature throughout the building, temperature and humidity – i.e. the moisture in the air are controlled. It may seem counterproductive to use energy to run a ventilation system; however, it can use less energy when it’s optimised for your environment.

Plus, you could say there’s a trade-off when you use energy to maintain air quality and flow versus not doing so and using time and resources to replace workers on sick leave and damaged goods.

Protect Your Inventory

High-quality ventilation is also good for your assets and inventory. With low humidity and dust, your physical assets, raw materials and inventory ready for distribution are protected.

Moisture can get in anywhere, and when it does, it compromises the quality of materials and products. Avoid the unnecessary need for replacements and associated costs with a ventilation system fit for purpose in your workplace.

There will be a need for managing worker habits so they don’t interfere with the optimum settings for good air circulation. Plus, you don’t want HVAC equipment working longer and harder than it has to, so you will need to educate staff on its use.

What may also assist you is knowing how to read fan curves so your engineer designs an energy-efficient ventilation system with the right fans for optimum air quality in your factory or workplace without wasting energy.

Summary

There is no escaping our activities are degrading air quality, and with the threat of pandemics like COVID-19, there is a sense of urgency to ensure our workplaces are safe and healthy for work.

Ventilation systems control temperature, humidity, and air motion. A good ventilation system combined with HVAC equipment is not a luxury item. Instead, it’s essential to the continuation of business-as-usual. Read our next article on often you need to deep clean your work environment.