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What Constitutes Good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?
The question is not what is bad IAQ, but more importantly is what is good IAQ (or what is normal)?
Bad indoor air quality is difficult to detect as you cannot see it. Bad smells alone are not the only indicator of poor air quality. Interior rooms collect not only exhaled carbon dioxide and moisture from people and objects, but also numerous toxic chemicals and biological pathogens. The question is not what is bad IAQ, but more importantly is what is good IAQ (or what is normal)?
For more than 50 years, health problems stemming from building-related biological and non-biological materials have been on the rise, yet indoor air quality professionals and consumers have lacked a starting point by which to compare bacterial and fungal bioaerosol results in a presently unregulated industry. Until now.
“To date, the industry, both private and public, has not been able to establish a basis by which to measure the baseline conditions for indoor airborne bacteria and fungi,” said Alan Wozniak, president and CEO of Pure Air Control Services. “With our extensive environmental background 25 years and multiple disciplined experience spanning over 600 million square feet of residential and commercial building space, we have been able to provide bioaerosol guidelines that are being used to determine what is normal in a home or building environment.”
As a world renowned Ph.D. aerobiologist, Dr. Rajiv Sahay, Laboratory, FIAS, CIAQP Director for the Environmental Diagnostics Laboratory (EDLab) in Clearwater, FL, has spent the past 10 years collaborating with colleagues Dr. Monroe King, Alan Wozniak, CIAQP, Francisco Aguirre, CIAQP, Dr. James Kimbrough, Mark Wozniak, MBA, CIAQP and Dr. Tomas Tamulis regarding bioaerosol issues. They collectively recognized the importance of introducing IAQ guidelines to assist in establishing normal background bioaerosol numbers for building indoor environments and thus began compiling data for this important aerobiological exploration.
“There are many charlatans and shamans in the indoor air quality industry today. In an unregulated industry, this can wreak havoc to the uninformed consumer,” said Wozniak. “It was for that reason, among others, that we felt compelled to diligently assess our inter-relational database and provide industry guidelines.”
The Environmental Diagnostics Laboratory has gone through the steps to become one of the elite American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) accredited environmental microbiology laboratories in the U.S. “Upon establishing the laboratory, it was our intent to accumulate the data to begin documenting realistic microbiological guidelines and standards,” said Mr. Wozniak.
“Since it’s inception, we have invested a lot of time and money in developing not only a state-of-the-art microbiology laboratory, but also in developing the proprietary inter-relational database called Computer Assisted Air Management Program (CAAMP) by which to compare airborne culturable bioaerosols.”
Throughout the decade-long study, more than 11,000 indoor and outdoor bacterial and fungal samples were taken in and around over 7,000 commercial and residential test sites across the United States. The outcome of Dr. Sahay’s study provides important normative data on culturable bioaerosols for both fungi and bacteria that have been applied to other sectors of business.
“Our industrial hygiene protocols and laboratory guidelines have been utilized in many important indoor environmental quality expert testimony cases,” said Wozniak.
Dr. Sahay’s suggested guidelines for airborne culturable bioaerosols for indoor environmental quality are designed to help consumers, IAQ technicians, building diagnosticians, environmental scientists and other air quality professionals gain a better understanding with relation to building conditions, indoor air quality and bioaerobiology.
“Since Dr. Sahay’s indoor environmental quality presentation at last year's AIHA conference in Anaheim, CA, hundreds of industry professionals have requested a copy of the proposed guidelines; a clear indicator of the need for guidelines and standardization,” stated Mr. Wozniak.
“Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): A 10-Year Case Study for Industry IEQ Guidelines” is the first of many indoor air quality studies presented by the Environmental Diagnostics Laboratory from the data garnered over the 10-year time period.
Dr. Sahay’s suggested guidelines for airborne culturable bioaerosols for indoor environmental quality are designed to help consumers, IAQ technicians, building diagnosticians, environmental scientists and other air quality professionals gain a better understanding with relation to building conditions, indoor air quality and bioaerobiology.
For more information, contact the Environmental Diagnostics Laboratory by calling (800) 422-7873 ext. 804. To obtain a copy of Dr. Sahay’s 10-year study presentation, visit Pure Air Control Services website at www.pureaircontrols.com, click on the 10-year study icon and enter the required information. by Facilities Safety Management Magazine Pure Air Control Services is interdisciplinary indoor environmental consulting firm providing IEQ consulting services to city, county, state and federal governments, school boards and the private sectors. They have an in-house AIHA accredited environmental diagnostics laboratory providing environmental microbiology/microscopy services as well as building/HVAC system remediation services.
For a free copy of the 10 year study go to: http://www.pureaircontrols.com/request_guidelines.html
For more information, contact the Environmental Diagnostics Laboratory by calling (800) 422-7873
About Pure Air Control Services:
Alan Wozniak founded Pure Air Control Services, Inc. in 1984 as a small mechanical contracting firm. Today, the firm sets the industry standard for indoor environmental quality diagnosis and remediation.
Pure Air Control Services is a national provider of the following IAQ services: Building Sciences Evaluation; Building Health Check (USP 797 monitoring compliance); Environmental Diagnostics Laboratory (EDLab) an AIHA accredited micro laboratory (USP 797 Lab analysis); DIY IAQ Green Check test kits, Environmental Project Management; HVAC System Cleaning and Mold Remediation Services, among other indoor environmental services.
The company’s expanding valued client roster includes the General Services Administration (GSA); Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Allstate Insurance; Carrier Air Conditioning; Naval Air Warfare Center, Orlando; and Naval Air Station - King's Bay, Georgia, and many other Fortune 500 companies, school boards, and city, state, and county governments, making Pure Air Control Services the reliable industry leader in IAQ.
For more information on Pure Air Control Services, Inc. please contact Cy Garner at (800) 422-7873 x 804, or visit www.pureaircontrols.com.
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