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Benefits of Good Air Quality in the Office Environment

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When you stop to think about just how much time you spend in the office on average, it makes you realize how important it is to have good air quality indoors. That includes having comfortable temperature and humidity levels that won’t provoke or exacerbate any issues with health, especially when you’re working in a confined environment that you must share with others on a frequent basis. In addition to health issues, poor indoor air quality can in turn, lead to absenteeism and lower productivity at work. Thus, good air quality is a crucial component in the workplace.

Here are just a few added benefits that good air quality can have in an office environment.

Health

The humidity levels in an office are crucial for maintaining optimal conditions for good health. When an environment becomes excessively dry, it not only causes discomfort, it also provides an optimal environment for airborne viruses to thrive and spread. Correct levels of humidity, between the range of 40-60% RH, reduces the growth of bacteria along with the transmission of viruses, such as influenza. Conversely, deviating beyond 60% RH can also cause the air to become too moist, which can exacerbate the presence of allergens, fungi and mites. This is why achieving that sweet spot between 40-60% is so important.

Comfort

It’s important to feel comfortable in your workplace and the air quality plays a significant role in this. Having a space that is consistently shared with many others already provides an environment that is easily prone to viruses and germs that can spread very easily, making it a very uncomfortable place to be. So having humidity levels in the correct range is essential to reduce as much discomfort, as well as the potential for ailments and bacteria to thrive.

Productivity

Of course, when your employees feel comfortable in the place that they work, they can better focus on their tasks at hand. Good air quality means less bacteria and viruses, which means less absenteeism and more productivity for the business. When employees have to suffer with allergies, asthma and the flu, it can trickle down and effect the entire business operation.

The air quality at work – and more specifically, the humidity levels maintained in your indoor environment – are something that you don’t often think about. But when you realize how much they can impact employees and productivity, you realize how vital this truly is. Don’t let something as simple as air quality negatively impact the productivity and efficiency of your workplace.

Ensure that your office has the best line of defense against ailments in the office by having a commercial humidification system installed. It can improve humidity control, health and overall productivity in the office.

Blog Workplace Safety

How to Promote Safety on Your Work Site

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Job site safety is a serious issue that must be enforced. Job site and work site safety includes both parameters for safe and effective applications of products and services, but also safe work habits and protocol for staff to follow to avoid injury or accident.

Here are just a few ways you can promote a culture of work safety in your organization, both in the office and on site:

Educate Your Labour Force

In order to ensure safe practices on site, your staff and labour force must be educated on safe practices for their job. Depending on the roles within your organizations and the different responsibilities of your staff, so a customized training regime is key to success. Whether you are an international pipeline service and solution provider or a small-scale contracting company, a safe work site should be a top priority.

Enforce Penalties Internally

The governing ministry in your area will have their own penalties if your crew is caught not following procedure – and these are often very steep penalties. However, if your company is truly committed to creating a safe and efficiency job site, you should also have internal monitoring procedures and internal penalties for those not following proper safety protocol. For example, the first time is a warning (unless a very serious infraction), the second time you are written up, and the third time you are suspended without pay.

Reward Your Team for Safety Success

Create a culture of work site safety by rewarding your teams for continuing to exhibit and follow safe practices and procedures. This could be done by keeping a record of successful safety measures during your daily monitoring checks – once you reach 1 month of accident-free, penalty-free work, the company treats the whole team to a free lunch! This is a simple, easy way to create a great workplace culture where everyone proactively enforces a safe work environment for both themselves and the team as a whole.

The cause for creating a safe work site is one that everyone in the company has to support. The approach for a safe work site should be proactive instead of reactive. Do not wait until the ministry shuts down your work site. Develop a streamlined and strict safety policy internally and make sure that your staff understand it and enforce it. A safe job site is good for everyone and leads to a more efficient process, in the long run.