Building Air Quality does a lot of proactive IAQ surveys of commercial buildings. During the proactive surveys, we look at the maintenance and operations of a building’s mechanical systems while we collect background IAQ readings and measurements. We also walk tenant spaces. As we walk the tenant spaces, we often look for the kinds of issues that can affect air quality, but which are controlled by building occupants. Yes, building occupants can really impact IAQ in your building. If you’ve ever wondered how consider this.
Many occupants bring personal plants in to brighten up their workspaces. Occasionally, these plants are poorly cared for (over or under watered). Over watering plants can lead to mold growth on plant soil. This is never good. Under watering plants is also never good. As plants die, they release pollen spores, which can affect occupants with allergies or asthma. And if a plant dies, it could begin to attract insects. That’s just plain negligence!
A recent trend has been for occupants who over water their plants, to place folded paper towels (from the kitchen or restroom) under the potted plant. Now, when they over water the plant, the paper towel absorbs the excess moisture. Unfortunately, paper towels are an excellent growth medium for the development of mold. This means that an occupant who routinely over waters their plants (and uses paper towels underneath), could be creating a source of mold in the indoor environment.
We recently responded to a tenant complaint voiced by someone with allergies to mold. She reacted very badly when filing papers in some low lateral file cabinets. After some searching, we found that the large potted plants sitting on top of the lateral file cabinet had paper towels underneath them. As we moved each potted plant to one side, we saw a very distinct round, black-colored ring where the bottom of the pot had been. This was an area about 10” in diameter that was full of black-colored mold. And there were 4 plants total with these paper towels in place. The mold grew because the paper towels had been very wet for a very long time and the mold that grew there was causing the worker to react.
Is always important to remind occupants that indoor air quality is a shared responsibility. Giving them some guidance on what they should and should not be doing within their space, will help you manage indoor air quality throughout your building before problems occur.