Poor indoor air quality is an issue that employers and employees should take seriously because it affects workers’ health and productivity.
This is according to Peter Herbert, managing director of Sheriff’s Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Services.
Speaking to BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY on the sidelines of a workshop on indoor air quality at the Hilton Hotel last Wednesday, Herbert said poor indoor air quality and mould build-up in a number of office spaces across the country continued to be an issue despite education on the topic over the years.
“In Barbados, it is not only government buildings that are affected, we have other buildings that have poor indoor air quality,”?he said. “Poor indoor air quality is a big problem. Although you tell people this is the problem that you have, you have mould and this can help and although they can see after demonstrations, it is still hard to convince them.”
Herbert said that he knew of severe cases where people died because of mould growing on their lungs which was due to poor indoor air quality.
“In recent times and in the past we would have had some issues with indoor air quality. People would have to leave buildings or buildings would have to be closed and people strike because of the poor indoor air quality,” he said.
The workshop was attended by private and public sector workers including engineers and technicians. It was designed to educate them on the benefits of good indoor quality.
Herbert said his company, in collaboration with UV Resources (UVR), was seeking to promote “a solution” to the problem. Herbert said as far as he was aware, ultraviolet lights were the only solution.
Regional manager of UVR, Lorrie Todd, who is based in the United States, said there has been research on air quality and it was “a very big issue” globally.
Echoing the sentiments of Herbert, Todd said hotels, hospitals, laboratories, schools and office buildings were more susceptible to mould build-ups and poor indoor air quality, adding that a number of them were using UV lights to “medicate it” and they were reporting success.
“More office building owners, insurance companies, government facilities are concerned about the interior of their building,” Todd said. “It is their responsibility to make sure that the space that you work at is safe and you are not having mould contamination issue.
“If you have indoor air quality issues you probably have sick leave issues. Your workers’ productivity may be reduced because maybe they just don’t feel well; they have a headache and not focused. Certainly office building owners should be concerned about making sure their workers have the highest productivity level.” (MM)
