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Office Buildings & Call Centres

Helping you breathe safely, work confidently

Specific risks in offices & call centres

Conventional Buildings were not designed for resilience against highly contagious airborne pathogens such as coronavirus.

Various Statutory instruments and Regulations for the Built Environment do not adequately mitigate this current infectious airborne viral hazard. Internal air quality is the priority for infection control. The Building Regulations are being overhauled but in the meantime, we know what needs to be done to protect better now and for the future.

Poor Interior Air Quality

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, so-called “Sick Building Syndrome” (SBS) was still a major issue for productivity and cost the UK economy 25 million hours per year. Now, preventing viral transmission within an office environment is all the more crucial and the poor air quality which led to SBS is now at the root of COVID-19 transmission in offices and other indoor work environments.

Inadequate ventilation

Given the current pandemic, indoor room environments in the majority of all buildings will now possess inadequate ventilation due to:

·       High-risk ventilation systems – recirculated air and fan coil units can accelerate the infection.

·       Inadequate airflow rate rates for COMPLIANCE: 10litres/person/second or 6ACH

·       Poor air distribution

·       inadequate ventilation system filters

·       inadequate clean, uncontaminated air supply

Poor Interior Air Quality

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, so-called “Sick Building Syndrome” (SBS) was still a major issue for productivity and cost the UK economy 25 million hours per year. Now, preventing viral transmission within an office environment is all the more crucial and the poor air quality which led to SBS is now at the root of COVID-19 transmission in offices and other indoor work environments.

Poor choice in ventilation

Indeed, some types of interior spaces may actually accelerate infection because of their ventilation arrangements irrespective of following Covid-secure guidelines to the letter, e.g. recirculated air/ceiling cassette systems or low level heating or floor grill systems.

With employers and employees worried about the Covid-risk within their office spaces today, it is important that mitigations are put in place.

Our solutions

As professional engineers, scientists and medics, we know how to target the infection risks intimately by designing bespoke solutions, combining established and proven engineering and health technologies, to take your biosafety and protection to a new level.

We are able to assess your building configuration, engineering infrastructure, occupancy use and risks. We then will model and engineer a bespoke solution to suit your asset risks and user requirements, through the use of:

·       Better ventilation air flows, distribution and filtration.

·       In-duct GUV devices in HVAC systems – One way to counteract the spreading of disease is with efficient air circulation systems, which will be fitted with UV-C devices to destroy any airborne microbes while the air is recirculated through it. This is very cost-effective and safe.

·       Upper Room GUV systems and Medical Grade HEPA Filters – these can be put in place to reduce the localised spreading of diseases in key locations. These systems, when correctly specified, significantly reduce the transmission rate of airborne pathogens.

When added to good management practices, these infection intervention solutions help protect people to the highest level practicably available to eliminate and control the viral hazard.