Everyone is aware of air pollution these days, but how many people know that you can actually have polluted air in your home or office? John Pletz is CEO of ServiceMaster Clean by Pletz, based in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and discusses how you can improve the indoor air quality where you live, work and play.
Indoor air pollution is really known nowadays as indoor air quality. What that basically means is how clean is the air that you are breathing indoors, and how much particulate matter is involved in the air that you are breathing in. The average individual breathes in over two heaping tablespoons of particulate matter every day, which contributes to sicknesses, asthma and respiratory problems in many people.
Sick Building Syndrome
Sick building syndrome is a recognized phenomenon that businesses are now learning how to deal with. It is estimated that as many as 30% of workers are affected by it, which contributes to the number of sick days and can have a profound effect on a business’s bottom line.
Many years ago, because of the oil embargo, we started making our businesses and homes more energy-efficient, by double-glazing windows, putting in proper doors etc. That also meant we started locking in more germs and more volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter, as they got left inside the building. As a result, our buildings don’t breathe as well now as they used to.
However, the reduction or removal of these particulate matters, molds and VOCs can greatly improves indoor air quality, which makes for a healthier building and fewer sick days.
Top Tips
Anything that you can do to reduce particulate matter will effect and increase healthy air circulation in your building. Here are some of the more obvious things you can do to help clean the air inside your house or office:
- Get rid of poor ventilation by changing your furnace filters regularly.
- Make sure your carpets are vacuumed regularly with a high-filtration vacuum that takes particulate matter out of the air. It’s important to have a vacuum that doesn’t just pick up the matter and redistribute it around, but one that actually holds it in the bag. VOCs can come from dirt on the floor to dirty carpets to dirty upholstery, as well as from mold in the air and harsh cleaning products.
- Sweep and mop your floors often. If you do not sweep up the dirt, it gets pushed back up into the atmosphere and you breathe it back in. Sweeping removes large particulates; mopping cleans up smaller ones, rinses them away and takes them down the drain.
At ServiceMaster Clean, we not only know what to do, but how to do it. We now use new micro-fiber cleaning systems to remove dust from surfaces and the air, and we have our own proprietary dust wand that literally removes rather than pushes the dust from the air. We also use food-based cleaning solutions to clean, which means that there is no chance someone will be breathing in harsh chemicals that are left in the atmosphere following a commercial cleaning.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
