Protection of Air Quality in the Workplace

A Presentation for Building Owners and Managers by

Henry M. Healey, P.E.

As a result of the September 11^th attacks and the bioterrorism events of October, it seems appropriate to focus more attention on protecting the air quality in buildings. Bioterrorism has added a whole new dimension to maintaining safe Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in the workplace. No longer are the primary IAQ concerns focused only on comfort issues, humidity levels, odors and similar issues. The focus now must be on protecting the air quality in buildings and developing plans and procedures to reduce workers exposures and initiate appropriate responses to accidental or intentional contamination of the air we breathe.

While there is no reason to panic or be overly concerned, there obviously is a reason to implement plans, programs and systems to protect and maintain safe air in the workplace. Unfortunately, we are not today fully prepared for the potential threats from Bioterrorists, natural disasters, accidents or other extreme incidents. It appears that we have the capability to respond to Anthrax and similar emergencies, but we have not, at the present time, prepared our buildings, their occupants, facility managers, custodians and maintenance personnel for such events, we need to!

In mid October I became acutely aware of our shortcomings related to bioterrorism. At that time, I happened to be in a building when a "suspicious" package was reported and a response action initiated. Once the concern was called in, the building was sealed and no one was allowed to enter or leave the building until emergency personnel responded and "Cleared" the building. Unfortunately, several other incidents were occurring simultaneously and the response action in the facility I was in was long in coming.

The building manager and occupants of the building could only do as instructed by the response team (by telephone) and wait in the building growing more nervous with the passing time. The area with the package was vacated and the door closed shutting it off from the rest of the building, the ventilation system however, was not deactivated, it should have been. It took approximately 3 hours to "Clear" the building and allow the occupants to leave. Fortunately, the Field Test was negative and the confirmation lab test (24 hours later) verified the negative field test results.

This first hand experience made it only too clear that proactive procedures, training, and standard protective measures (engineering controls and personnel protective equipment) must be implemented to protect the air in the workplace. Every time I read that we are "blowing off" equipment to clean it, rather than using vacuuming with HEPA vacuums, hearning of workers in potentially contaminated areas (or areas that are likely to become contaminated) without PPE and finding that building occupants have little or no knowledge of the basic HVAC equipment operation (on-off), I become concerned.

It has become obvious that we need to do much more to protect air quality in the workplace and maintain a safe environment for employees. We need engineering controls that can keep contaminated air out of buildings. We may want to better secure or relocate the fresh air intake for our buildings. We need to be able to deactivate the ventilation system quickly in the event of a release of contamination inside the building. In work areas that would be likely to become contaminated unknowngly (ie. Post Office Sorting rooms) we should utilize PPE and consider installing a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration system. Workers need to be trained (awarness training) in Building Air Quality safety and appropriate response actions to maintain a safe and healthy workplace.

To ensure the safety of occupants, building managers (and alternates) must have a basic knowledge of the air distribution system in the building they occupy. Information on which air handling unit serves what area, how are the ventilation and exhaust fans shut down, the appropriate response action for contamination from inside or outside the building and who is responsible for taking such actions needs to be provided, displayed and used in emergencies. Shut down instructions should be posed or readily available in the event of emergencies and all employees must have basic instructions in safety procedures related to these new threats to our workplace.

In response to the apparent need for information related to protecting a buildings air quality and assessing its vulnerability from external or internal threats a presentation on Protecting Air Quality in Buildings was developed. The presentation, developed at the request of the Central Florida Safety Council, while discussing Building Air Quality in general, focuses on the Advance and Emergency Planning required by Facility personnel to protect a buildings occupants and its Air Quality against potential threats related to the Indoor Air from Biological and Chemical Terrorism and other (more conventional threats). The presentation is designed to enable Safety and Facility personnel asses the vulnerability of Buildings and develop appropriate facility initiatives and Engineering Controls to help Protect the Air Quality in the Workplace.