Issue link: https://hi.iaq.net/i/630729
34 Section 5 Using information from the IAQ profile, the IAQ manager should work with staff and contractors to ensure that building operations and planning processes incorporate a concern for indoor air quality. New procedures, recordkeeping requirements, or staff training programs may be needed. (Growing interest in IAQ is stimulating government agencies and private sector organizations to develop training programs. See Appendix G for additional information.) The flow of information between the IAQ manager and staff, occupants, and contractors is particularly important. Good indoor air quality requires prompt attention to changing conditions that could cause IAQ problems, such as installation of new equipment or furnishings, increases in occupant population, or new uses of rooms. Facility Operation and Maintenance Indoor air quality can be affected both by the quality of maintenance and by the materials and procedures used in operating and maintaining the building components including the HVAC system. Facility staff who are familiar with building systems in general and with the features of their building in particular are an important resource in preventing and resolving indoor air quality problems. Facility personnel can best respond to indoor air quality concerns if they under- stand how their activities affect indoor air quality. It may be necessary to change existing practices or introduce new procedures in relation to: Equipment operating schedules: Confirm that the timing of occupied and unoccu- pied cycles is compatible with actual occupied periods, and that the building is flushed by the ventilation system before occupants arrive. ASHRAE 62-1989 provides guidance on lead and lag times for HVAC equipment. In hot, humid tenants' office managers. The building staff may be limited in its access to tenant spaces and tenants may not have access to building operations areas such as mechani- cal rooms, yet both tenants and building management have responsibilities for maintaining good indoor air quality. Facility personnel are not generally trained to think about IAQ issues as they go about their work. Even though building staff may be observing events and condi- tions that would indicate potential prob- lems to an experienced IAQ investigator, the staff member's attention may be directed elsewhere. As new practices are introduced to prevent indoor air quality problems, an organized system of recordkeeping will help those practices to become part of routine operations and to "flag" decisions that could affect IAQ (e.g., renovations, new tenants). The best results can be achieved by taking time to think about the established channels of communication within your organization, so that new forms can be integrated into decisionmaking with minimum disruption of normal procedures. A clean mechanical room, free of tracked-in dirt and stored chemicals, is an important element in the prevention of indoor air quality problems. Airborne contaminants in the mechanical room can be drawn into ductwork through return air openings or unsealed seams in return ducts and circulated throughout the building.