Once again, Indoor Air Quality Month serves as a warning that the surfaces and items in your facility can act as havens for dust, allergies, and microscopic particles, putting your family members' health at risk. Enhancing indoor air quality goes beyond surface cleaning and makes it easier. In honor of the occasion, this essay explores how a thorough cleaning service might enhance indoor air quality.
The Reasons for Marking Indoor Air Quality Month
October is designated as Indoor Air Quality Month. People are taught and made aware of the significance of breathing clean air indoors through this festival. Campaigns, media coverage, and other channels of communication are used to educate the public about the dangers of indoor air quality, its effects on health, and the appropriate safety measures to take. You should also enjoy this themed month for the following reasons:
- Enhances Health and Well-Being: Bad air quality is linked to a number of health concerns, including allergies, respiratory disorders, and even death. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2020, home air pollution caused around 3.2 million fatalities, of which 237,000 were children under the age of five.
- Energy Efficiency: By raising awareness of indoor air quality, the festival encourages individuals to take proactive measures to enhance the air sources in their homes. People frequently check HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems for leaks and underperformance, which improves the systems' energy efficiency. You can lower energy waste and lower your utility costs by doing this.
- Impact on the Environment and Society: The community, families, and people come together during Indoor Air Quality Month to work toward a shared objective. Adopting techniques that lessen indoor pollution can promote environmentally friendly living. People have reduced their carbon footprint by switching to eco-friendly ventilation systems as a result of the campaign's immense impact.
Reasons for the Importance of Improving Indoor Air Quality
The majority of individuals spend their days indoors, whether in workplaces, retail establishments, schools, or homes, particularly with the increase in remote work that has occurred since the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is essential to make sure that the air in these areas is clean. Here are some more justifications for the significance of enhancing indoor air quality.
1. Improved Health and Respiratory Quality
Fine particulate matter is one indoor contaminant that has been connected to heart issues, which are frequently fatal. Improving indoor air quality with the help of a janitorial services company can lessen the chance of developing these and other respiratory conditions including asthma and heart-related illnesses.
2. Improved Mental Abilities
Poor ventilation and indoor pollutants can also contribute to sick building syndrome, which can produce symptoms like headaches, difficulty concentrating, and irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. You may improve your cognitive function, foster a learning environment, and boost productivity by making a concrete investment of time and other resources in enhancing indoor air quality.
3. Improved Rest
Improving the quality of the air indoors can have the immediate benefit of improving your health and well-being through more restorative sleep. This is significant because in adults, teens, and children, insufficient sleep is associated with an increased risk of harm. Moreover, most people have trouble sleeping in poorly ventilated environments, which can cause tension and eventually sleeplessness.
4. Environmental Sustainability
By implementing strategies to enhance air quality, such switching to eco-friendly cleaning supplies and energy-efficient HVAC systems, you can both improve the air you breathe and contribute to a sustainable future for the environment. Both comfort at home and productivity at work may benefit from this. The good news is that more commercial cleaning companies for businesses are already moving in the direction of green cleaning. They are therefore aware of all the finest ways to create a sustainable environment.
All-inclusive Cleaning Services That Can Help You Enhance Your Facility's Air Quality
Here are four standard cleaning procedures that guarantee healthy indoor living because some cleaning services enhance indoor air quality more than others:g:
- Dust and Debris Cleaning: Using commercial cleaning services to perform routine vacuuming and dusting can help stop the buildup of debris, germs, and allergens that transport irritants and cause poor air quality. Both tasks are particularly crucial in places with plenty of furniture and traffic.
- Air Duct Cleaning: Dust, mold, and bacteria can grow in most HVAC systems. Expert cleaners have a great deal of experience cleaning and sanitizing filters, coils, ducts, and other parts. This keeps toxins from circulating throughout your building and aids in maintaining appropriate ventilation.
- Cleaning for Carpets and Upholstery: Pollutants, dust mites, and allergies can frequently be trapped in carpets and upholstery. Hiring a steam cleaning business for your business can help you achieve cleaner indoor air by efficiently removing these particles and smells.
- Surface Cleaning and Disinfection: Using the right cleaning solutions to regularly disinfect surfaces helps stop the spread of bacteria and viruses that can lower air quality. Therefore, it's important to pay attention to surfaces that are handled regularly, such as handles, light switches, and doorknobs.
Five Ways to Boost Indoor Air Quality
These pointers can assist you in enhancing the indoor air quality and protecting yourself from illnesses linked to air pollution:
1. Make an Investment in Superior Air Filters
Dust, pollen, pet dander, and other airborne particles can all be captured and collected by air filters. In addition, they are made to control chemical compounds, smells, and other gaseous exchanges that are emitted into the atmosphere. This can lessen the accumulation of visible and invisible bacteria on surfaces and household equipment. Consider air filters as a mutually beneficial investment that will both save your long-term expenses and help your indoor environment's air quality.
2. Regularly and thoroughly vacuum
The smallest particles on your surfaces can be captured by vacuum cleaners equipped with high-efficiency particulate air filters, or HEPA filters, because they are incredibly dependable. Therefore, hiring a professional cleaning service to vacuum your home thoroughly and on a regular basis will assist to remove the bacteria that might cause asthma attacks and other respiratory problems.
3. Keep Your HVAC System Maintained Frequently
Particularly in small spaces, HVAC systems are essential for recirculating and regulating the air you breathe in. Problems such as an HVAC system's clogged air filter due to dust, mold, and other particles can worsen poor ventilation, the failure of these appliances, and the spread of infections. This implies that routine maintenance will extend the life of your equipment and promote the flow of clean air, which will enhance air quality.
4. Employ Cleaning Supplies Free of Chemicals
Remember that some cleaning products include harmful chemicals that might emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and contribute to indoor pollution when choosing one. This can lead to health problems for individuals, kids, and pets. For this reason, it's critical to choose multipurpose green cleaning supplies that also enhance the quality of the air you breathe. Hiring a commercial cleaning firm that aligns with your eco-friendly mission is also advised.
5. Take into Account Purchasing a Dehumidifier or Air Purifier
Purchasing both gadgets will benefit your organization. Cooking, taking a bath, and taking a shower can all dramatically raise the humidity in your house. All it takes to raise the humidity is a large number of people breathing in and out of a closed space.
High humidity has the drawback of encouraging the growth of mold, mildew, and other fungi in confined spaces. That's on top of the bad air and the harm it may do to your books, walls, furniture, and artwork. Purchasing dehumidifiers can assist in bringing the air's moisture content down to a safe level.
Which Three Fundamental Techniques Can You Use to Enhance Indoor Air Quality?
All of the above-discussed advice on enhancing indoor air quality may be categorized into three main areas:
1. Source Management
As the name suggests, source control refers to taking steps to stop these pollutants' emissions at their source, such as using natural gas, disposing of garbage properly, maintaining cleanliness standards, and more, before they reach the atmosphere. Techniques for source control are frequently implemented on a personal and group level.
To reduce air pollution, for instance, the government may impose regulations on automobiles, buildings, businesses, and other entities. What matters most, though, is that people and communities strictly follow these rules. Lower levels of indoor contaminants will raise the overall standard of the air that circulates.
Your kitchen's cooking burners are one example of source control on an individual basis. You can remove the heat, moisture, and smoke from your burners by installing a heat extractor over them. Unlike ventilation, this only allows air to exit through the extractor and not enter.
2. Airflow
Air exchange is the essence of ventilation. It entails removing stale air from an interior area and introducing fresh air from the outside. By enabling adequate airflow distribution, it aids in the removal of odors, impurities, and other pollutants.
Natural ventilation typically depends heavily on the environment, the design of the building, and consequently, human activity. For best effects, mechanical ventilation techniques might be used. Fans and air conditioners are examples of these mechanical tactics that can enhance the quality of the air.
3. Air Cleaning
A device called air purification is used to remove impurities from the air, especially in enclosed environments. Pet hair, pollen, and microscopic dust particles are all caught by this filter. Activated carbon filters, UV-C germicidal lamps, ozone generators, and electronic air cleaners can all aid in removing bacteria, smells, and pollutants from the air while enhancing the indoor environment. You can choose a commercial cleaning firm that is knowledgeable about these tools and knows how to use them to their fullest potential for the greatest results.
How Better Indoor Air Quality Can Be Achieved with Professional Cleaning Services
Commercial cleaning companies like Sunstate Facility Services are seasoned experts in cleaning procedures that can impact your well-being positively. The certified and licensed Georgia Facility Services team boasts well-trained professionals who can effectively implement all the cleaning strategies and tips discussed in this article to boost indoor air quality.
Whether you need services for your retail store, office, school, hospitality center, medical office, or industrial complex, you can rest assured that Georgia Facility Services is up to the task and flexible enough to work with your schedule. Contact us now to get started and enjoy the numerous benefits of a clean environment during this Indoor Air Quality Month and beyond.