The average U.S. employee takes 14 sick days every 12 months – and today’s businesses are trying everything they can to help reduce this sick time and increase productivity. A good place to start is the office environment itself. How is your indoor air quality?
Millions of individuals are residing with allergy symptoms – they’re hypersensitive to dust, mildew spores, animal dander, or pollen. Very often, these people are mistakenly told that carpets and floor coverings add to their health problems, and that they should be removed from their office environment. But the fact is, that eliminating these can in fact lead to worse conditions.
Think about it: most things that trigger allergies are transported in the air and enter the body through the nose. In an inside environment, gravity causes these things that trigger allergies to fall to the ground. If your office floor is hardwood, tile, or linoleum, those allergens will go right back up into the air each time the furnace or air conditioner blows, a door opens, or someone strolls by. The allergens then stay in the air until they finally settle back down. This happens over and over again – all day.
On the other hand, if your place of work has carpet on the floor, the contaminants in the air that drop are caught and held securely right up until they’re removed by proper commercial carpet cleaning. The carpet acts as a short-term filter until it’s cleaned (by day-to-day vacuuming, for instance). So if you are in a carpeted area and you see things that trigger allergies in the air, they’re probably coming from the hard surface areas on furniture – and not the carpet itself.
Even though a carpet cannot allergy-proof any area 100 percent, it can add significantly to a cleaner office environment – as long as it’s maintained effectively with regular carpet maintenance. Make sure to use the proper carpet cleaning products, equipment, and services – those that have been authorized by the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI). Not all products clean equally well, and some can even damage your carpet. Look for vacuum cleaners with the proper filtration to retain dirt and dust from escaping back into the air.
By taking these steps, you’ll help keep your indoor air cleaner and your staff healthier.
