Helping organisations fulfil their obligations towards clean air and water

Testing and analysis of environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, airborne bacteria and particulates, dust levels, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide can give you and your staff or tenants the assurance that your air quality is good.

Green Air Monitoring works directly with building occupiers, managing agents and via maintenance or facilities management contractors to provide a range of air sampling and analysis services for day to day office accommodation or more specialist facilities. This is for both occupied buildings and new accommodation and includes specific testing required to support WELL Building, BREEAM and similar accreditations.

We provide services both as snapshot tests at particular points in time or more comprehensive day or even week-long surveys. These longer surveys will give you a clearer picture of the quality of your indoor air as the occupation of your building and the outside environment varies over the day.

Our Snapshot survey covers the minimum needs of most corporate occupiers and the enhanced Standard6O range of surveys add in monitoring of airborne aerosols in the PM1; PM2.5 respirable and PM10 fractions. It is these particulate mass (PM) concentrations that are usually referred to in media reports about pollution levels, particularly in towns and cities. More advanced tests may be implemented for particular accommodation such as newly refurbished offices, swimming pools, print rooms and processing/manufacturing plants. A fully tailored regime will be designed for clean rooms, sterile areas and workshops.

SNAPSHOT

• Thermal comfort (temperature and humidity)

• Carbon Dioxide

• Carbon Monoxide and other background gases

• Airborne particles

STANDARD 6O

• Thermal comfort (temperature and humidity)

• Carbon Dioxide

• Carbon Monoxide and Ozone or Nitrogen Dioxide

• Aerosol Monitoring (PM1, PM2.5, respirable and PM10

TAILORED

• Active TVOC, VOCs sampling and Odour Threshold Analysis

• Airborne microbiological activity

• Respirable and inhalable dusts including metals where relevant

• Weld and solder fumes

• Gases

FOR ACCREDITATIONS

• WELL Building Standard

• BREEAM

• LEED

• Clean Room Standard (BS EN ISO 1446:1)

Our occupational hygienists are called on where the working environment poses specific risks to its occupants. Examples include:

• Laboratories

• Manufacturing plants and facilities

• Those dealing with chemicals and other hazardous chemicals

• Garages and workshops

• Saw mills and other facilities creating high levels of dust

• LIA for ballistics ranges

Testing regimes in these instances are always fully tailored to the particular risks. Our process for this testing is:

• Undertake full risk assessment

• Design monitoring and testing regime

• Implement

• Submit regular reports containing recommendations

A specific service required in this area is Local Exhaust Ventilation – please see below for further information.

This could be anything!

Many of our enquiries and commissions derive from unusual odours occurring within the workplace but almost as frequent are staff complaints regarding headaches or sickness or discomfort.

Our occupational hygienists use their experience to determine appropriate tests and investigations to efficiently get to the root cause of the problem. Our comprehensive reports will outline results of these tests, give a diagnosis and then where appropriate make recommendations on how the problem can be rectified.

The Health & Safety Executive estimates that over 12,000 deaths a year are caused by exposure to airborne hazards such as dust and chemicals at work in their past.

COSHH 2002 requires employers to prevent where possible workers’ exposure to these hazards and where not practicable ensure exposure is controlled.

Green Air Monitoring employ specialists qualified to undertake tests to check the ongoing performance of your LEV systems and so help you discharge this obligation. The current frequency for the legal test and examination is at least 14 monthly; an unusual frequency not ideally suited to the most frequently accepted cyclic maintenance regimes. A link to the HSE guidance on LEV is here and can also be found on the Resources page. We will provide you with a thorough report clearly stating the LEV performance and, where non-compliant, we will advise on what is needed to achieve compliance.

Please see our news and resources section for further information and guidance on LEV systems including HSE published documents and guidelines.

A regular hygiene assessment enables you to meet and discharge your duty of care under the Workplace (health, safety and welfare) Regulations 1992, and where used as a monitoring regime reduce the costs and disruption brought about by needless cleaning.

Reputable routine maintenance to air handling and ventilation systems invariably will include servicing the supply air handling equipment and dependent on the design, the terminal units located in the office area. Very rarely do mechanical maintenance companies include any form of maintenance or cleaning services to the ductwork system between. The Workplace (health, safety and welfare) Regulations 1992 and the associated ACoP set out requirements on system cleanliness. Many maintenance companies do not have the appropriate skills or processes to measure cleanliness or even carry out any form of quantified inspection.

Green Air Monitoring also undertake ventilation hygiene assessments. This is a process that samples and measures the levels of microbiological activity living within a ventilation system; organisms that live on the accumulated dirt or metabolites of other organisms or decaying remains of other colonisers. Mould can release spores that propagate and can bring about allergies and some cause infections. Assessment of hygienic cleanliness can be made using the CIBSE TM26:2000 ‘Hygienic maintenance of office ventilation ductwork’; however it is worth noting this guideline document has been archived and removed from online availability.

We can also ventilation cleanliness assessment. This a process that measures the amount of dust debris inside a ventilation system. Dust naturally falls out of an airstream and, over time builds-up as a deposit inside the ductwork and can provide the nutrient required for organisms to live on. Significant deposition can build-up to the point where it can travel down the ductwork and deposit in the office area. This assessment of the level of acceptable surface deposit contamination is made using the BESA Guide to Good Practice TR/19 ‘Internal Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems’.    

Green Air Monitoring provides assessment of cleanliness and whether cleaning should be considered, but does not provide ductwork cleaning or other related repair services and so we can assure our customers of an objective and independent report.