2007 Toolkit Promotes Office Air Quality

Lungs At Work will help you and your co-workers safeguard and improve indoor air quality (IAQ) conditions in your office. The toolkit takes a step-by-step approach to:

• Evaluating your office for potential IAQ issues, using a walk-through guide
• Forming a workplace Green Team to strategically and efficiently address IAQ maintenance and problem-solving
• Gathering data to help resolve IAQ problems
• Educating and motivating management and co-workers to improve employee health by safeguarding IAQ.

IAQ conditions in office workplaces can easily become a problem because office building interiors are so frequently reconfigured, which can impact the functions of building air circulation systems. This is especially true in multiple-use buildings where IAQ for one tenant business may be compromised by activity in other tenant spaces. If left untreated, an IAQ issue may seriously impact human health and disrupt workplace productivity. If an IAQ problem is efficiently addressed, co-workers can take pride in an effort that will save your business money — and everyone can breathe easier!

Resolving an IAQ problem can be simple as cleaning up clutter — or investigation of an IAQ issue might show that chemical pollution or air circulation issues must be addressed by a trained professional. Some IAQ problems can be identified and corrected by employees themselves, while others may require involvement of a building facility manager, property management firm, or even an environmental remediation specialist. In any case, appropriate data gathered by employees in an office affected by IAQ issues can help outside experts resolve an IAQ problem.

• Lungs At Work uses the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED^® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating systems as a baseline of IAQ Best Practices. The LEED standards can be applied to assess and improve IAQ in any size or type of office.
• Lungs At Work outlines a "Green Team" approach to safeguarding healthy IAQ, and to problem-solving IAQ challenges. Case studies in the toolkit emphasize cost-savings that can be achieved by protecting healthy office IAQ.
• Lungs At Work provides background on common workplace IAQ issues in a positive, action-oriented context.
  • The LEED IAQ criteria offer employees a nationally-respected tool to motivate cooperative employee-employer-owner-facility manager IAQ improvement strategies.
  • Methodologies for workplace Green Team formation and team problem-solving processes include IAQ fact-finding forms and case studies of IAQ improvement successes.
  • A detailed section on Green Cleaning promotes healthy working conditions for janitorial as well as office employees.
  • A lunch-and-learn skit presentation, "Better Breathing Bureau," uses humor to foster stakeholder awareness and motivation to resolve IAQ issues.
  • An extensive glossary offers office Green Team members the tools to effectively communicate with facility managers and IAQ remediation professionals.
  • The toolkit also lists many resources for research and remediation when severity or technical demands posed by an IAQ problem exceed what employees themselves can address.

Lungs At Work promotes health in the workplace — because everybody, in every office, deserves to breathe healthy air!

For more information about Air Quality and other environmental health issues, visit:

• www.intheair.org
• www.earthwayscenter.org
• www.stlcap.org
• www.epa.gov/iaq
• www.usgbc.org