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Companies Responsible for Their Indoor Air Quality

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Green laser beams

(SD-Pictures, Pixabay)

11 July 2019. Companies in manufacturing or distribution must keep a close watch on the quality of the air inhaled by their staff while on the job. Substances made at their work sites, or stored for any length of time, may emit volatile compounds into the air, which these businesses need to monitor.

Two federal agencies in the U.S., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institute of for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), provide guidelines for workplace safety and health. Those guidelines include indoor enviromental quality. Some air-quality concerns are easy to track, such as dampness or humidity. The document notes, however, that a key concern of employees is exposure to gas pollutants, but it’s more difficult to pinpoint the cause of these air quality problems, since symptoms may disappear when leaving the workplace.

CDC and NIOSH list some of these symptoms indicating harmful chemicals in the air: itchy or watering eyes, skin irritations or rashes, nose and throat irritation, nausea, headache, dizziness, and fatigue. As a result, monitoring indoor air quality needs to be done while staff is on the job and reported instantaneously if possible, to alert employees and others in the facility, and prevent these symptoms from developing.

A technology for reliable measurement of indoor air contaminants in real time is a form of spectrometry using light to analyze airborne molecules. Spectrometry sends laser beams through a chemical compound to activate its molecules, with the laser aimed at a sensor. Before the beam reaches the sensor, a grate breaks down the light waves into colors, with various collections of colors offering a unique signature for each compound. These hese signatures are then captured as data that the system can store, display, or process further.

Blue Industry and Science has advanced laser spectrometry to rapidly analyze air quality more efficiently with what the company calls virtual lasers. This technology makes it possible to activate multiple lasers to detect, identify, measure, and report on multiple compounds simultaneously. This kind of laser spectrometry can provide early warning of potentially harmful compounds in the air to prevent worker or visitor illnesses.

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