Is Your Office Ventilation Making You Sick?
poppy johnson • August 25, 2020
In Central Maryland, all commercial buildings need HVAC system cleaning to prevent the spread of viruses.
Any building that houses many different businesses will undoubtedly share the same HVAC systems among the many offices and rooms. For this reason, it is important that the building HVAC system be cleaned and reviewed on a regular basis to help prevent the spread of diseases in that common ventilation system.
When workers are in an environment that may be contaminated by an HVAC system
that has not been cleaned in years, there is the risk that the system may harbor viruses, bacteria or hazardous microorganisms. In these cases, there is a risk that the employees or workers can be exposed to dangerous health hazards as a result.
For example, Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)
is a real issue. It is present when people who frequent an office or commercial building become ill, and experience symptoms because of the air quality of the building moving around bacteria, viruses and other communicable diseases through the duct work. Most individuals who acquire SBS do so when the HVAC system of a commercial building is not properly maintained, cleaned or reviewed on a regular basis.
The symptoms of SBS include the following:
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Lethargy
• Mucus membrane irritation
• Sensitivity to odors indoors
• Inability to focus and concentrate on tasks
Whenever a number of building workers or employees become ill, there may be a sick building to blame for the illnesses. Now most businesses have to be concerned about COVID-19, SARS, MARS and other communicable diseases that can be transmitted by microorganisms traveling along the duct work and HVAC systems of the building. Even with the new protocols to ensure that sick workers stay home in a self-quarantine, many people who are asymptomatic and who do not know that they are infected with or carrying the pandemic will come to work and possibly spread the virus to others in the workplace.
After a pandemic or the threat of people who have been sick in a building who may have shed the virus in various areas of the building,
it is not uncommon for dangerous airborne building contaminants and particulate matter to be released into the HVAC systems of a building. These compounds, VOCs, CO2, MVOCs (microbial volatile organic matter), mold, dust, airborne fungus, particulate matter and biohazards can make the people working in these environments physically sick or ill.
This can be a problem when there is high humidity after a water damage loss. The reason is because high levels of humidity can create mold spores. The HVAC ventilation system of a building can transport these mold spores in the communal areas of the building
that may be contaminated to other non-contaminated areas of the building, which can make workers sick.
At the first sign of sick employees or workers in a commercial building owners or managers should call a professional team to come and seal off any areas that are susceptible to being touched by a large number of the public in that area of the workplace. We are able to come to your commercial building to seal any areas that need review, to keep the workers from being exposed to contagious viruses and diseases and the health hazards that can come with this exposure. Just give us a call today!
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