Health and Safety Consulting :: Indoor Air Quality

Winefield & Associates, Inc. (W&A) uses guidance from safety and engineering consensus standards to help our clients maintain acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ) to minimize the potential for adverse health effects. W&A takes a holistic approach to solving IAQ challenges that occur as a result of employee complaints and/or management concerns. We realize that IAQ assessments can only be addressed upon consideration of: the diversity of chemical, physical, and biological contaminants in indoor air; factors that can affect occupant perception and acceptance of IAQ; and the range of susceptibility in the population.

An IAQ assessment typically consists of the following activities:

• Conducting employee interviews;
  
• Conducting visual inspections of ventilation systems and general working conditions;
  
• Assessing the effectiveness of ventilation systems pursuant to standards issued by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
  
• Analyzing surrogate indicators of ventilation effectiveness such as carbon dioxide, temperature, and relative humidity;
  
• Measuring airborne microbiological contaminants (i.e., mold, fungi, and yeast); and
  
• Making recommendations to improve IAQ by addressing the ventilation system, indoor concentrations of air, contaminants from outside air sources, humidity control, and/or contamination from building materials.