Air Quality Example

Carbon dioxide measurements require specialist test equipment and were not carried out in the context of this quick evaluation. The office survey did not detect any subjective phenomena to suggest a problem with CO2 concentrations. The results of the subjective evaluations are presented in Table 13.9 and Table 13.10. Table 13.9 shows that respondents reported that the control room was both too cold and too hot, in addition to too little air movement and the air being too dry. Measurement of temperature (sampled range was between 20.1 and 22°C with a mean of 21°C) and relative humidity (sampled range was between 30.6 and 35.7% with a mean of 33.8%) showed that they were within acceptable limits. Table 13.10 shows the reports of symptoms experienced by people in the control room that may be associated with the environmental conditions. Over half of the respondents reported sore throats and congested noses, and approximately half reported sore eyes, mental fatigue, headache, and tiredness. 

FIGURE 13.4 Flowchart for assessing indoor air quality. (From Hedge, A., in Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods, N.A. Stanton et al., Eds., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2005, pp. 604-617. With permission.) 

The results of our small sample of air quality walkthrough checklists and office environment surveys suggest that further investigation into air quality is required. There is clearly a disaepancy between the objective and subjective analyses. This 

Are measures in place to prevent the malicious introduction of material Y N  

Are there safety procedures and PPE available/provided in cases of air quality failure Y  

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