Indoor Air Quality Investigations

Indoor air pollutants have been increasingly blamed for causing adverse health effects in the last 10-20 years. This parallels the energy efficiency concerns of building operators, architects, and mechanical engineers involved in HVAC design.

It is known that employee health may be adversely affected by indoor air pollutants such as tobacco smoke, volatile organic compounds, microbiological contamination, contaminants from building fabric and cleaning materials. Some of these contaminants may cause humidifier fever, disease and hypersensitivity to some chemicals. Some contaminants may be carcinogenic.

Continued exposure to indoor air pollutants at unacceptable levels may cause productivity loss due to absenteeism or occupant discomfort. In severe cases, entire areas of buildings or the entire building may need to be closed due to abnormally high levels of indoor air pollutants. Litigation may result in some cases from occupants who have alleged health injury.

Dalrymple Consulting, Inc. can help you locate the source of indoor air quality problems. Our methods of evaluating this problem have been found very effective in locating the source of the problem. We have found that most investigations can be successfully conducted by a three step approach.

  • 1

    Step 1

    Involves obtaining background assessment of historical information of the building itself. We investigate the chronology of the problems and obtain information on reported symptoms.

  • 2

    Step 2

    Involves a walk through evaluation of the building including the HVAC system and interviews with building occupants. Environmental monitoring may be used at this time to confirm or to rule out a number of source possibilities.

  • 3

    Step 3

    Involves follow-up visits that may be necessary to further delineate information gathered in Step 1 or 2.

At the completion of the study, Dalrymple Consulting, Inc. will provide the client with specific recommendations for improving air quality. We will also provide a re-evaluation of the building after implementing recommendations.