Be a Big Fan of Ventilation

What is the Real Point?

There is a reason it is called “venting.”

Venting refers to making an environment cleaner or healthier – whether it is a workspace, your mind, your heart, your home, your marriage or relationship, whatever. It is always a good idea, at least on occasion, to “vent.” Things get clogged up or dirty, and it’s nice to be able to ventilate, bring in fresh inspirations or thoughts or air into an environment to flush out the negative and toxic and stinky. And while we can sometimes make light of it in certain contexts, it is very serious business when it comes to worker safety in almost any environment – but especially in enclosed or confined spaces.

Not All Venting is Similar

If you are a new business in an old building, or a business that has a new building, or if you have been cited by government officials about ventilation, there is an educational article in the May/June 2015 issue of OSH Canada magazine that tells you it is not just about putting in a general HVAC system in your building on on your worksite. As many offices and workplaces are different, the type of ventilation system you need will be different. So just because you have a new building or you are moving into an old building that already had a ventilation system, you may still have to understand whether the system in place is adequate for the type of workplace you have and the various possible pollutants with which you work.

Don’t Just Vent; Vent With Purpose

When you blow off steam to a friend or partner, you don’t just do it to do it … you have a reason for it, right?

The same goes for ventilation in your workplace. There needs to be a reason for the ventilation system you have, and there has to be a reason why you would change it or upgrade it. And many of these reasons are not about aesthetics. Much of it has to do with safety of your workers.

Your duty and responsibility as a building manager, owner or even shift supervisor, is to ensure your workers are in as safe a working environment as possible. And part of that duty means addressing many of the silent killers that float around in your airspace.

Getting Particular About Particulates

Those who know anything about ventilation know that it’s about general ventilation and local ventilation. General is more for the entire workspace, while local ventilation is meant for particularly confined spaces or specialized areas where certain chemicals, gases or dust can accumulate separate from other parts of a worksite.

And there are ventilation systems designed for different heath concerns. If you have an area that will be working around an excessive amount of dust, or certain toxic gases or fumes, or is a particularly small space and is enclosed from other ventilated areas, then you will need to look for a certain ventilation system that will fit your needs.

 

Venting Does Have Standards

Not only do you need to select either a general or local ventilation system for your worksite, you have to pay attention to the occupational health and safety standards for ventilation in your particular industry or with the particular pollutants with which you will be operating.  Your ventilation system has to be of such a power level as to be circulating and ventilating air at a rate that is approved by the health and safety standards for your area. The denser the pollutants in your work space (and you must be honest!), the more powerful your ventilation system will have to be.

Next up this week: How to tell when the fan on your system works, but the system itself is not, and what to do when your system fails to keep your workers safe.

Here is a hint: If the fan stops working, that is already too late.