Clean for Health: With indoor air quality, seeing is believing
12/7/2007

Though we learned the value of “show and tell” in grade school, we do not use this method often enough when selling cleaning programs.

Initially showing the customer the quality of our work is better than telling him about it, but this is difficult when promoting cleaning for health (CFH), since the most meaningful outcomes — for example, microscopic dust capture — are invisible to the naked eye.

There are exceptions, of course. A New York-based building service contractor (BSC) replaced dust mops with sealed HEPA-filtered vacuums in the shipping area of a medical catheter factory. Air quality conditions improved so much that the catheter tube rejection rate of 10 percent — from airborne contamination — was reduced to 4 percent, a 250 percent improvement.

In this case, it was possible to “see” the invisible improvement in IAQ through statistical data.

Studies tell us that healthier buildings with better IAQ reduce illness and absenteeism and raise productivity, but this is not so easy to “show” at the outset since two buildings can look equally clean to the casual observer, while in fact one is “healthy” and the other “unhealthy”.

If seeing is believing, not seeing airborne contaminants is not believing they exist (or matter).

Show me tool

With the advent of entry-level hand-held laser particle counters — starting at approximately $2,000 — you can now more easily show the benefits of a CFH program as it relates to airborne particle reduction.

What is a particle counter or scanner? It is a device that takes a sample of air, shines a laser beam on it, counts or scans the dust particles reflecting the light, and then provides a digital read-out of the particle count.

Lightweight particle counters (two pounds or so) are extremely accurate and can count particles ranging from .3 to 10 microns — small enough to determine if your HEPA filter is working like it should — while providing a break-out of particles by size.

Some units hold the results of from 500 to 2,000 separate air sample tests, along with a range of other data, so test comparisons can be made based on date, time, sample volume, counts and even room temperature. Data may be transferred to a PC or handheld device to create spreadsheets and other means of analyzing and tracking the results of your cleaning efforts.

Experts say, in the not too distant future, economically-priced particle counters will also enable detecting the presence of many pathogenic microorganisms.

How it works

Take a reading of the room air before using a feather duster, and then take one after.

Do the same for a microfiber duster or a disposable dusting sleeve.

Test the air before burnishing floors, then during and after.

Measure airborne dust during dust mopping versus vacuuming hard floors.

The results will be revealing.

A particle scanner enables evaluating the efficiency of vacuum cleaner and air filters, including HVAC filters and portable air cleaners.

By taking measurements at the air intake and the air outlet of a filter, you can calculate the true efficiency (percentage of a given sized particles captured) of the filter.

Airborne particle scanning is also an excellent way to determine where airborne contaminants are most concentrated — by building or work area — and to sniff out sources for correction.

Outdoor contaminant levels can also be compared to indoor levels — indoor air is often dirtier than outdoor air — for cross-referencing and further analysis.

Jim Harris, Sr. is president of Janitronics Building Services and Concepts4, Albany, NY.