Performing An Indoor Air Quality Test In Your Commercial Building

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Proper ventilation and air filtration is the best way to maintain good air quality in a commercial building. But ventilation and air filtration are not enough. Maintaining acceptable indoor air quality requires a periodic indoor air quality test. Poor indoor air quality is often the result of emissions from within the building. Things like asbestos-containing insulation, old carpets, cleaning products, poor air filtration and activities like smoking can all contribute. If you are faced with complaints of odors or respiratory problems from occupants you should immediately conduct an indoor air quality test. An initial indoor air test can be performed by your buildings’ facilities management team and may be included in your maintenance agreement.

While there is no definitive indoor air quality test, indoor air quality testing can be broken out into three stages:

* Initial walkthrough and assessment
* Simple measurements
* Professional assessment

Initial Indoor Air Test

An preliminary indoor air test can often be performed by your own facilities management team ...
... and involves the collection of information that could identify potential pollutants and their sources by:

* Interviewing occupants
* Identifying potential sources of pollutants
* Inspecting buildings systems like the HVAC

Keeping a record of occupant complaints is usually the start of any indoor air quality test. Develop forms for occupant interviews and questionnaires and keep detailed record and notes. Your occupants will give you some important direction when you do the initial building walk through and visual inspection of the building. Examine the building for things like leaky ducts and air filtration filters that need to be replaced. There are indoor air quality test devices you can purchase that will help you test for unsafe levels of specific contaminants. Not all indoor air quality test kits or devices are built alike so do some research to find the right one for the issues you’re facing and the size of your space. An indoor air test can identify unsafe levels of the following common building contaminants:

* Radon
* Mold, Yeast, Bacteria and Fungi
* Allergens; dust mites, pet dander, insects, pollen, dust
* Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
* Carbon Monoxide (CO)
* Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
* Humidity

Check Your Air Filtration

Air filtration protects HVAC systems from dust and contributes to improved air quality in your building. It’s important your air filtration systems be inspected, repaired and replaced regularly.

Professional Indoor Air Quality Test

When issues become more involved you may choose to bring in a specialist to perform a more extensive indoor air test. They should do the following:

* Extensively examine your HVAC System by opening ductwork and testing for chemicals, molds and bacteria
* Test and analyze the air for bacteria and fungus
* Perform microscopic assays for mold and other pollutants
* Perform particulate assays to identify microscopic toxic fibers, including asbestos
* Perform chemical assays to test for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s)

After performing an extensive indoor air quality test a professional will generate a report on the air quality in your space and make recommendation for remedies if needed.