Air Quality Mapping: Your First Step to a Healthier Workplace

Workplace air quality is a serious issue nowadays. In the industrial environment, the workers face several health issues due to poor air quality. So air quality mapping is an important task for every industry nowadays. It provides various benefits to industries, but the most important benefit is “to plan a strategy to control the fumes in the workplace." Air quality mapping is the first step of every industry towards a healthier workplace.

What is air quality mapping?

The following are a few important things that will tell you what air quality mapping is all about.

To assess each workstation's actual air quality in order to ascertain the air quality condition of the workplace.

Take the readings in Mg/M3 format for each workstation in the workplace.

Carefully analyze and study the readings to understand the actual exposure level of each workstation in the workplace.

After complete analysis and study, prepare a foolproof air quality map in accordance with the workstation layout in the workplace to make the workplace healthier.

Why is air quality mapping important?

Air quality mapping is important for the following reasons:

To locate real hotspots for occupational fume exposure.

Air quality maps, in addition to visually displaying areas with high pollution levels, can identify areas where the actual level of fume exposure is critically high in the workplace or assist in identifying a single workstation area where fume exposure is high.

It helps in taking corrective decision-making.

A proper air quality map can help in taking corrective decision-making, and it can help allocate the required funds to implement a fume extraction system and solution. It helps with health risk assessment in the workplace.

Air quality mapping will help in understanding the extent of health risks to the workers due to poor workplace air quality.

It helps to formulate targeted fume extraction strategies.

Air quality mapping helps to formulate the targeted fume extraction strategies for those hotspots where the amount of fume exposure is very high. One can easily target the areas with the help of an air quality map.For example, generally, 20% of the workstations in the layout will be responsible for generating 80% of the pollution. AQ Map helps the planner identify those 20% of workstations for ‘targeted action.’

How is the air quality mapping test conducted?

A Filter ON representative comes to your plant and performs the test in the manner described below.

He uses a digital aerosol monitor to measure dust concentration at the operator level.

He categorizes results into Red Zones (pollution above safe values), Yellow Zones (pollution on the borderline of safe values), and Green Zones (pollution within safe values) on the plant layout.

Then Filter ON provides a report with recommendations for lowering exposure levels in red and yellow zones after analyzing the processes.

It enables planning for corrective actions like improved ventilation, enclosures, and pollution control devices.

Filter ON helps you to formulate the required air quality mapping test with its fume extraction systems because Filter ON has 40+ years of experience to develop and implement fume extraction systems for various industrial processes such as welding, oil mist, dust collection, laser marking, laser welding, and in commercial kitchen dry scrubbers. With this wide range of experience and 70+ different solutions to cater to the needs of industrial air pollution market, Filter ON wants to become your trusted partner for all the above offerings, so for your fume extraction needs, contact us at marketing@filter-on.com.

To make a corrective decision and plan the methods for implementing air quality mapping with fume extraction systems in your industry, please see our previous blog series, "Designing a Complete Clean Air System: A Guide to Effective Planning", as well as other blogs following this one.

In the next blog post, we will discuss the necessary steps that need to be carried out to perform air quality mapping in your workplace with a case study and also check the effectiveness of air quality mapping at your workplace.

Visit blogs to learn more about the critical features of clean air system design and air pollution control systems created by Filter On India.

Filter On India has been working towards “Mission Zero Pollution” for the last 40+ years as a clean air solutions partner for industries. We specialize and have expertise in welding fumes, oil mist, coolant mist, dust collection, soldering, laser marking, laser cutting, plasma cutting, fumes in fastener manufacturing, ball point tip manufacturing, oil quenching, kitchen fumes, etc. Filter On has 70+ clean air solutions, so you can contact us for more information about our solutions. You can reach us through the web or visit us at our corporate office at Pune and our virtual locations at Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, or Chennai locations.