Why better air makes better work – and health

Since the global pandemic, work habits around the world have changed significantly. Many professionals are working from home and if they are working in a shared workspace, they are paying more attention than ever to hygiene and ventilation. In the future, indoor air quality will become a deciding factor in employee wellbeing. But how can you ensure a healthy climate in your workspace, and what are the most efficient ways to do so?

The new normal

After the pandemic, most companies noted a shift in work locations and behaviors. More people started working from home and the occasional coworking spot, and significantly more attention is paid to covid-related habits such as hand hygiene and ventilation. As a consequence, CO sensors are popping up in office environments around the world, and contemporary office buildings are increasingly being equipped with cutting-edge ventilation systems. Rightfully so, because indoor air quality can have a significant impact on employee performance and well-being.

Why indoor air quality matters

Indoor air quality, commonly referred to as IAQ, refers to the quality of the air in a building as it gets breathed in every day by its occupants or visitors. Although the general assumption is that indoor air is cleaner and healthier than outdoor air, this is in fact not true. Studies show that in many cases, untreated indoor air is two to five times more polluted than the air outside due to pollutants such as pollen and bacteria. This can cause diseases such as the flu and respiratory infections and, combined with high CO levels due to lack of ventilation, can lead to headaches, concentration problems, decreased job performance, and overall inferior health. 

Thankfully, with the right systems, air pollutants such as pollen, bacteria and viruses can be filtered out of the air to create a healthy indoor environment for all.

How to improve air quality

Today, homes and buildings are better insulated than ever. That is good news for the environment, but it also means that once unhealthy air particles, contaminants and pollen have entered a working environment, it has become harder than ever to get rid of them. The solution: ventilation, filtration, and above all: purification.

VENTILATION >> FILTRATION >> PURIFICATION

Ventilation is essential for diluting and removing pollutants. Opening windows, for example, can help to balance out CO and pollution levels, and well-maintained ventilation systems with adequate air-exchange rates have been demonstrated to effectively protect people from contaminants in large office buildings. As a next step, equipping air conditioning and ventilation systems with high-efficiency air filters can help to capture the majority of airborne particles, reduce the airborne concentration of bacteria and viruses and thus the risk of transmission through the air. However, although filtration systems capture viruses, bacteria and fungal organisms, they fail to inactivate them, allowing them to still replicate and potentially cause diseases. That is why air purification is an essential next step for employers looking to actively eliminate contaminants and to thoroughly improve the quality of the air inside their office buildings. 

Daikin: your partner in air purification

Daikin launched its first air purifier as early as 1975. As a specialist in air quality management, we feel it is our mission to provide innovative solutions that are truly effective against air pollution, as well as seasonal pollen and viruses. Studies have shown that our range of air purifiers removes over 99.98% of the human coronavirus (HCoV-229E) and 99.93% of the virus that causes common flu (H1N1) in just 2.5 minutes. *

As companies around the world are preparing to return to the office, Daikin air purifiers can help create the conditions to do so in a safer way. Our commitment to healthy indoor environments – even before the global pandemic – has resulted in a wide portfolio of air filtration and purification products that directly contribute to reducing the risk of respiratory virus transmission. We use these technologies in our air conditioning, heating and ventilation solutions – both for small and large building applications, and in compact plug-and-play purifiers for quick and flexible purification. This allows us to offer the right solution for every building type to help make working environments fresher, healthier, and more comfortable – one office at a time.

*Daikin air purifiers purify the indoor air by circulating it through the unit and letting the air pass a multitude of filters and purifying technologies: a high-performance electrostatic HEPA filter traps viruses and pollutants, after which they are exposed to our patented Flash Streamer technology, which disinfects the air and removes viruses and bacteria.