How to Measure Air Quality in the Workplace

Blog Post

28 Feb

Monday, 28th February 2022

The need to measure air quality in the workplace has never been greater. Thanks to new building regulations and increased concerns about viral risk, employers need to make sure they do enough to keep air quality high in their buildings.

Getting data on indoor air quality (IAQ) is the smartest place to start.

But how do you measure air quality in the workplace?

In the past, you’d have had to gather and analyse IAQ data manually, which is complex and time-consuming. But at Infogrid we’ve created a smarter solution. With our Healthy Buildings System, you combine the world's smartest IAQ sensors with our artificial intelligence technology, so you can receive real-time insights on your building’s air quality.

In this article, we'll show you how it works. But first, let's talk about what air quality means and why measuring it matters so much.

What is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?

Indoor air quality (IAQ) refers to the overall quality of the air in and around a building—whether that’s a commercial building, a restaurant, warehouse, or home.

While a lot of attention is paid to outdoor air pollution, the problem of indoor air pollution is just as serious for public health. In fact, studies by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggest that indoor workplaces can have levels of pollutants two to five times higher than those outside.

When we spend as much as 90% of our time inside, it really matters that the air we breathe indoors is clean, healthy, and pollutant-free. In short, to mitigate harm to human health, that means you need to ensure it conforms to indoor air quality standards. The only way to do that is to measure it.

Why Should You Measure Air Quality in the Workplace?

To make sure your employees are happy, healthy, and productive, it’s crucial that you measure and improve air quality in the workplace. Here’s why it matters so much:

Employees want to know about the quality of the air. According to Infogrid research, 61% of UK employees say improved air quality would make them feel safer at work. More surprisingly, 56% of employees said they wanted to see data on workplace IAQ themselves.
Improved IAQ boosts employee wellbeing and productivity. Long-term exposure to a large amount of pollution can increase your risk of cancer, respiratory problems, and heart disease. A recent study across eight different countries showed that poor air quality can affect workers’ cognitive ability and productivity too.
Good IAQ reduces viral risk. During the pandemic, attention has turned to strategies for reducing the spread of COVID-19. Improved IAQ is key to this fight. Studies repeatedly show that improved ventilation, optimal temperature levels and good relative humidity reduce viral risk.
It will save you money on staff absences. According to the EPA, poor indoor air quality costs businesses billions of dollars each year in sick leave and poor productivity. An efficient system for measuring air quality, such as Infogrid’s, can help you save further on maintenance and energy costs.
You will make your business more sustainable. Ad-hoc methods to improve air quality—including manually opening windows or changing heating settings—can lead to wasted energy and a larger carbon footprint.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. With our Healthy Buildings System, we helped a retail company save 800 tonnes of CO2 a year. We helped another supermarket save $1.6 million on energy costs every year, too.

New regulations will affect your IAQ. In the UK, there’s now greater urgency than ever to improve indoor air quality. From June 2022 onwards, new building regulations mean that every new building will have to be set up to improve levels of carbon dioxide, humidity, and ventilation. Investing in effective tools to measure these metrics will ensure you meet your targets.

Measuring Indoor Air Quality: The Key Metrics

IAQ is crucial to your business performance. Yet it isn’t just a single metric for you to track. Rather, different factors contribute to the quality of your air—and you will need to measure them all when collecting air quality data:

Carbon dioxide (CO2). A gas that comes from human breath as well as some electrical appliances, CO2 is one of the easiest metrics to track to assess the overall quality of the air and ventilation.
Humidity. According to studies, low humidity levels are one of the most common complaints among office workers and has been found to increase viral risk. Keeping track of humidity levels is crucial to controlling IAQ.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are chemicals that are emitted from different products, including cleaning materials, printers, paints, and stationery such as glues. At high levels, they can have serious health effects.
Light levels. Poor lighting can affect employee health and comfort. In one study from 2019, light emerged as the most important factor affecting employee wellbeing after air quality in general.
Other air pollutants, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, radon, and fine particulate matter (PM) are important metrics too.
While they are not IAQ metrics themselves, occupancy, temperature, and ventilation all have a big impact on IAQ. You should bear this in mind when working to improve your building’s indoor air quality.

Yet there’s a problem: monitoring all of these metrics is not always easy.

In fact, legacy technologies for tracking building health can be costly, cumbersome, and time-consuming—requiring repeated, in-person visits to monitor IAQ changes.

For facilities managers (FMs) with large office buildings, this can feel like more trouble than it’s worth. And that’s before you even started to analyse the information that you have gathered.

But monitoring IAQ shouldn’t be a challenge. At Infogrid, we can give you the tools to measure air quality across any indoor environment—accurately, unobtrusively, and in real time. Our solution takes the time and hassle out of building maintenance—so FMs can focus on the more important work at hand.

Here’s how it works:

How to Measure Air Quality in the Workplace: The Infogrid Solution

At Infogrid, our solution is designed to be simple, scalable, and hassle-free. Instead of doing it manually, IAQ can be measured, monitored, and optimised with smart sensors that track the quality of air in your buildings.

How does it work?

The world’s smartest IoT sensors. Our Healthy Building System starts with the world’s smallest, smartest sensors. These are completely automated, zero-maintenance, and able to track the key indicators of IAQ—including CO2, humidity, air pressure, light levels, and VOCs.
Central dashboard. Our sensors can alert you to air quality issues in real time, across the extent of your portfolio. How? The IAQ sensors work hand-in-hand with a smart artificial intelligence dashboard, which enables you to track air quality in all of your buildings in one place.
Quick installation. Our IoT sensors are exceptionally easy to deploy. Fix them across your buildings and they can be ready to feed IAQ data in minutes.
Strategic placement. To get the most out of your sensors, you need to optimise their placement. We can help. With reference to your floor plan and occupancy levels, we can show you exactly where’s best to get the most reliable results.
Real-time monitoring. Infogrid’s sensors capture data every five to 15 minutes, giving you a live picture of air quality across your workplace. They are limitlessly scalable too—so you can get full visibility on IAQ conditions no matter the size of your buildings.

From Measurement to Optimisation: Improving Air Quality in the Office

Managing air quality doesn’t stop there. With a smart system for measuring IAQ in place, now’s the time to put in steps to improve it. Infogrid’s technology can help you make the best business decisions and support your case for investing in the right solutions.

From here on in, some of your options to achieving good air quality can include:

Cut off poor IAQ at its source. If air quality is suffering due to pollution, your best place to start is its source. Changing products or furniture to reduce VOC pollution, for example, can be an easy win.
Optimise building usage. Across your portfolio, some areas will be at greater risk of low IAQ than others, depending on occupancy rates and how different spaces are used. By overlaying IAQ data with occupancy rates, you can make smarter decisions about room use.
Mechanical ventilation. Mechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) interventions can save you cash and energy in the long run. After installing sensors across 26 sites, one of our clients reduced viral risk across their offices by up to 80%, by simply investing in dehumidifiers. Improving air quality can be that simple.