Improving Indoor Air Quality Through Proper Maintenance
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BY JEFF FYSTROM
We all face a variety of health risks as we go about our daily
lives—and being exposed to environmental air pollutants such
as radon, pesticides, smoke, carbon dioxide, dust and mold is
one of those risks.
Fortunately, in the recent past, improving both indoor and
outdoor air quality has moved beyond rhetoric to become a
reality as evidenced by the introduction of Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, the surge
of interest in environmentally sound cleaning products and
techniques, and strict new regulations regarding Volatile
Organic Compound (VOC) emissions.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recent
scientific research suggests that air within homes and other
buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in
even the largest and most industrialized cities. In addition, it
is estimated that individuals spend approximately 90 percent of
their time indoors. These facts support a need for facility
owners, managers and maintainers to focus on improving indoor
air quality.
This article will focus specifically on three environmentally
sound cleaning techniques—and the products that support those
techniques—and the impact they can have on improving indoor air
quality and mitigating the health risks associated with indoor
air pollutants.
Dust Control
Dust is perhaps one of the most common and problematic indoor
air quality issues because there is virtually no way to prevent
it from occurring, and it often carries annoying and/or
dangerous allergens. A retail setting, for example, can
experience significant dust control issues due to clothing lint
becoming airborne. And, regardless of the facility, dust can
easily get kicked-up and become airborne simply from everyday
foot traffic. However, proper maintenance can keep dust to a
minimum in even the most dust-prone environments.
Dust control starts with dusting—and ensuring dust is not just
moved around but actually captured and removed. That old feather
duster will merely move dust around and set it into flight. And
while a cotton cloth used in conjunction with a chemical or
cleaning spray will do a better job at capturing dust, you’ve
now introduced that chemical into the air, which does not
support a mission of improving indoor air quality. Consider
daily dusting with micro-fiber cleaning cloths that capture dust
without the use of chemicals or cleaning sprays. Not only will
you capture and remove dust, but you’ll avoid putting chemicals
into the air.
Daily vacuuming is one of the most effective and efficient means
of controlling dust. But it’s important to ensure your vacuum
has a superior filtration system for both removing and capturing
dust—you do not want soil to go through the vacuum and become
airborne. And while most vacuums that include a HEPA filter
capture dust, just because it says HEPA does not guarantee it
has acceptable dust control. It’s important to do your homework,
and purchase a vacuum that has been tested and certified to have
acceptable filtration. Visit the Carpet & Rug Institute website
for a list of vacuums that are certified to have proper dust
control.
A walk-behind sweeper is another great tool for dust control.
Realize that sweepers were initially developed for industrial
environments like warehouses that have more challenging dust
control issues than most commercial settings. That
industrial-strength technology is now available to the
commercial market in smaller walk-behind machines, and it’s a
great alternative to dry dust mopping. Many sweepers available
today have been tested and approved by the Carpet & Rug
Institute for use on carpet, too.
Low Moisture Carpet Care
While vacuuming and/or sweeping helps with dust control, interim
carpet care is necessary for maintaining your carpet’s overall
cleanliness and appearance as it removes soil before it gets
embedded. Care should be taken with interim carpet maintenance
to not negatively impact the indoor environment. A couple of
suggestions are as follows.
Some interim carpet care methods rely on applying water and
chemical directly onto the carpet. If a moisture issue already
exists, or the carpet already has a chemical build up, this is
only going to add to the problem. Therefore, consider
technologies such as soil transfer technology that don’t
directly apply water to the carpet. With soil transfer
technology, soil is removed, and negative issues with chemical
build up and moisture are avoided.
When looking at your carpet care program, also consider your
chemical usage. Many carpet care chemicals have or are seeking
“green” approvals, but common sense chemical usage is an
important part of improving your indoor air quality while also
maintaining your carpet. More specifically, understand various
pH levels and what they’re used for, use the least amount of
chemical possible, pre-spray your carpet rather than putting
chemical into your solution tank, and completely remove all
chemical from your carpet. In addition, carpet care chemicals
are now being formulated to dry to a powder instead of a sticky
surfactant. Once dry, vacuuming can actually remove some of the
chemical left behind after cleaning.
Auto-Scrubbing Hard Floors
Much like appropriate carpet care, appropriate hard floor
maintenance is an important part of improving indoor air
quality. For starters, maintaining your hard floor surfaces with
an auto-scrub-ber helps reduce the amount of dust that gathers
on the floor in the first place. The less dust there is to
remove, the less dust there is to potentially become airborne.
In addition, some auto-scrubbers today use less water, which
means floors dry faster. Thanks to advancements in controlling
sound levels and providing superior water recovery,
auto-scrubbers can now be used any time of the day or
night—which means there is no reason for dust to gather on your
hard floor surface.
Much advancement has also been made in the area of hard floor
cleaning chemicals.
Without question, cleaning chemicals, with their potential
toxicity and VOC levels, can adversely impact indoor air quality
and the health of building occupants. One of the most
environmentally friendly chemical advancements is the advent of
foam cleansing agents. By its very nature, foam uses less water
and less chemical to create the cleaning compound—less chemical
used, less chemical left behind, less chemical in the air.
Improving indoor air quality needn’t be a daunting task. Proper
maintenance that incorporates dust control, low moisture carpet
care, and auto-scrub-bing hard floor surfaces with a foam
cleansing agent will ensure facility maintainers are prepared to
not only improve cleanliness but improve indoor air quality. ❑
Jeff Fystrom is a senior product manager with Minneapolis-based
Tennant Company, a world leader in designing, manufacturing and
marketing solutions that help create a cleaner, safer world. |
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