Maintaining good air quality throughout your warehouse is an important part of protecting the health and well-being of workers operating in your facilities. Not only can poor air quality negatively affect your staff’s ability to perform tasks, but it can impact your operating costs as well. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to symptoms like headaches, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and more, affecting workers’ long-term health that will impact their productivity and your business’s capacity to operate efficiently and effectively.
Fortunately, if you can identify the causes of poor indoor air quality, there are several steps you can take to improve it and protect your employees and your brand. Here are 4 ways you can start improving the air quality in your warehouse right now.
Identify the Cause
Before you set out to buy new systems and equipment to reduce air pollution in your warehouse, the first step you have to take is to identify the cause of poor air quality. The most common reasons include poor ventilation, negligent maintenance of the HVAC systems in your warehouse, and various chemical processes that are typical in industrial warehouses that use chemicals in the production process.
Introducing proper air quality monitoring can help reveal what pollutants exist in what quantity, allowing warehouse management to take measures to control air pollution and improve the overall air quality for everyone working in the facility.
- Improve Warehouse Ventilation
Improving the ventilation in your warehouse is an essential step to improving the overall air quality and protecting your workers’ health. This is especially critical in the summer months to reduce the build-up of humidity and heat—which are among the main tasks of the ventilation system—and in the winter when carbon monoxide poisoning is more common. Ventilation removes hazardous fumes and smoke from gas-powered vehicles, such as forklifts, that can build up and impact your employees’ health. If you are unsure what your first step should be to improve indoor air quality, start here.
- Change Filters Regularly
Another important step to protecting your employees and improving air quality is to regularly change any dirty filters in your HVAC system to improve airflow. Dirty filters due to dust or debris covering the filter can reduce airflow in your warehouse and impact the overall air quality. A good rule of thumb is to change the filter 3 to 4 times a year, but this will vary depending on the working environments and conditions.
- Use High Volume Low Speed Fans
Airflow is one of the most important factors in maintaining good air quality, and one way to improve airflow is by adding high volume low-speed fans (HVLS) to your warehouse. These fans can quietly move lots of air due to their slow spin speed, drawing fresh air in from the outside and blending it in with the stale indoor air of the warehouse. HVLS fans use less energy than typical HVAC systems, making them a cost-effective way to control the temperature and air quality in your warehouse.
- Air Cleaning Equipment
There are various commercial air cleaning devices that can improve indoor air quality in most cases without the need to hire professionals or completely overhaul your HVAC and ventilation system. Equipment like air purifiers and scrubbers can support your HVAC system by removing tiny particles, pollutants, gasses, and chemicals from the air and very quickly improve the air quality. Air scrubbers, in particular, can target and remove especially harmful contaminants and chemicals, making them an effective tool in hazardous working environments.
Clean Air Equipment Rentals
Cooling Power Equipment Rental offers reliable and easy-to-use air cleaning machines that can help improve indoor air quality and protect facility occupants from exposure to harmful chemicals, gasses, and particles. Contact Cooling Power today to rent quality equipment and begin improving your warehouse’s air quality.