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When the air in a building becomes stale or contaminated by an
irritant, toxin or pathogen, the occupants may begin to complain and suffer health effects. This
situation is commonly referred to as "Sick Building Syndrome" or"Building Related
Illness."
Poor indoor air quality often results incomplaints by
building occupants such as:
- poor aircirculation
- stale or stuffy air
- eye and throat irritation
- headaches and fatigue
- sinus congestion and nausea
- other more severe problems due to a specific contaminant.
Building owners and property managers who have building swith poor
indoor air quality may experience reduced employee productivity, highabsenteeism, high tenant
turnover and many complaints. This seriously effects the profitability of a building or operation
and can result in a poor reputation for the building and the owner/manager.
The common causes of poor indoor air quality include the
following:
1) Inadequate buildingventilation
2) Inadequate temperature and humidity control
3) Build up of carbon dioxide levels
4) Build up of other specific contaminant levels
How do you improve "Indoor Air Quality" or
"Cure Sick Building Syndrome"?
Indoor air quality can be improved by
finding the root cause of inadequate ventilation performance. R Consultant's staff of Occupational
Hygienists and Environmental Engineers have the experience to find these causes and recommend
effective solutions. Ridesic Consultants offers a phased approach to the investigation of indoor air
quality problems. This approach is designed to systematically evaluate and isolate the source of
the problem in a methodical costeffective manner.
PHASE 1 INVESTIGATION
Interviews are conducted with management and building occupants to
determine the nature and frequency of the symptoms from affected individuals, and establish
whether the problem may be widespread, or isolated to a selected group or particular section of the
building. A discussion with maintenance personnel is normally conducted to evaluate the ventilation
system and review the maintenance logs.
PHASE 2 INVESTIGATION
Based on the information obtained in the Phase 1 investigation some
air sampling may be necessary. The phase will also assess comfort parameters and include measures
of the efficiency of the ventilation system serving the building. Where it is determined that a
specific contaminant is creating aproblem, the investigation will work to identify the source and
exposure pathway.
PHASE 3 INVESTIGATION
This step in the investigation includes the development and implementation
of recommendations based on the results of the Phase 1& 2 Investigations. This may result in
recommendations to improve the ventilation system, by repairing and recommisioning mechanical
components, changing building controls,improving maintenance practices, or redesigning ventilation
systems. It may be necessary to provide localized exhaust of a particular operation or process,
change building cleaning practices and conduct additional monitoring.
Ridesic Consultants Inc. has the capability to monitor for all
the major indoor contaminants, including;
-temperature and relative humidity
-carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide
-respirable particulate and asbestos
-volatile organic compounds
-micro-organisms
-radon gas
Other related work: Ventilation Design,VideoSampling, Energy Audits
and Energy/Indoor Air Quality Audits .
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