You can prevent sick building syndrome with Grizzly Mats’ many services!
Sick building syndrome (SBS) refers to several symptoms you might receive while in a particular office or building. These symptoms include:
- Headaches
- Stuffy or runny noses
- Dry, itchy skin
- Coughing or wheezing
- Rashes
- Fatigue or difficulty concentrating
These are common symptoms. Therefore, no specific illness or cause is identifiable. These symptoms may worsen the longer you’re in a particular building and become better after you leave. Today, we’ll take a lot of the causes of SBS and what you can do to ensure that your facility or company stays clean.
Sick Building Syndrome Causes
There are a few reasons why a building might be subject to SBS, including:
- Poor Indoor Air Quality: In the early and mid-1900s, building ventilation standards mandated that all newly constructed buildings have 15 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of outdoor air for every occupant to dilute and remove bodily odors. However, the 1973 oil embargo crisis caused natural energy conservation measures to reduce the amount of outdoor air provided for ventilation to five cfm per person. SBS can also be a result of ineffective air distribution in HVAC systems. Buildings should now have returned to the minimum of 15 cfm of outdoor air for each person based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards.
- Indoor Pollutants: Indoor pollution mainly comes from sources inside the building. Adhesives, carpeting, upholstery, copy machines, and other sources such as cleaning agents might emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a colorless, robust-smelling, flammable chemical known for being carcinogenic (cancer-causing). For these reasons, it’s vital to ensure that your floor mats are as clean as possible and that your cleaning products are high-quality.
- Outdoor Pollutants: Pollutants from outside sources such as vehicle exhausts, plumbing vents, and building exhausts such as bathrooms and kitchens can enter the building through air intake vents, windows, and other openings that don’t have a well-suited location.
- Biological Contaminants: Bacteria, mold, pollen, and viruses are biological contaminants that can breed in ducts, humidifiers, drain pans, ceilings, tiles, carpeting, or insulation with stagnated water. Insect or animal waste is also a cause of biological contaminants.
Prevention
Ways to prevent SBS include using low VOC cleaning agents, which Grizzly Mats can supply. Additionally, proper cleaning techniques, even with low VOC cleaning agents, will ensure that your building doesn’t have poor indoor air quality. You should also use low VOC products, in general, when it comes to choosing your carpeting, upholstery, furniture, paint, and other products.
Secondly, you want to clean any damp areas as soon as possible. We not only supply cleaning agents, but we supply mops as well. Furthermore, we also launder wet and dust mops for our clients. Clean mops will pick up more bacteria and eliminate cross-contamination during the cleaning process. You also want to install and maintain air filters.
Contact Grizzly Mats today whenever you’re ready to have a full, recurring stock of products that will keep your business hygienic such as paper products, hand soap and sanitizers, mops, floor mats, and cleaning products.
Contact Grizzly Mats for Floor Mat Services!
Grizzly Mats LLC serves the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area and all commercial businesses in the U.S. Our mission is to provide all customers with proper floor mat products and service while building long-lasting relationships through respect, honesty, and our undivided attention. Our goal is to provide all of our customers with the highest quality mat products that will maintain a safe and professional-looking environment throughout their facilities.
See our contact page, call us at 443-596-6717, or email us at [email protected] for more information on our floor mat services or our towels, aprons, wet and dust mops, and air freshener services. Visit our Grizzly Mats Online Marketplace to find all kinds of mats for purchase. Last but not least, don’t forget to visit us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest!