Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) / Odours
Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ)

What We Offer

Our principal consultant, Carolyn Wisdom, has appeared on the local news as an 'Indoor Air Quality' Expert. She has conducted many indoor air quality investigations, including those in office buildings in downtown Edmonton. She taught indoor air quality for six years for the University of Alberta Health & Safety Certificate Program.

We conduct air sampling in non-industrial settings as well as industrial ones . By definition, 'indoor air quality' studies are non-industrial. The source of contamination for indoor air quality (IAQ) studies may not be immediately evident. Therefore, a preliminary investigation may be the best approach. We may also need to conduct an illness investigation or interviews to sort out the nature of the complaints. Symptoms can often help us determine the source of the problem.

Once the source or type of contamination is known, air sampling can be done. Sometimes, we can give recommendations after the initial probe so that air sampling is not necessary. But, we have the expertise to conduct air sampling for all the known indoor air quality contaminants. The steps are:

• Preliminary investigations
  
• Illness investigations or interviews
  
• Air sampling  (VOCs, formaldehyde, PM10, ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, plastics, mold, and many others).

What does Indoor Air Quality Mean?

' Indoor Air Quality' as a professional discipline is an off-shoot from 'Industrial Air Quality' . Industrial air quality is evaluated by Industrial/ Occupational Hygienists. Contaminants in industry are usually produced by industrial processes. Examples are welding fume, wood dust, & vapours/ aerosols from spray painting. Concentrations may be high, sometimes above legal exposure limits, often in the parts per million range.

In peer literature, the term 'INDOOR AIR QUALITY' specifically refers to air quality in non-industrial buildings. Non-industrial buildings may be:

• Public Buildings
• Office Buildings
• Schools
• Hospitals, and
• Homes.

Investigations for 'indoor air quality' are primarily complaint-based. Very often, people feel ill or their smell odours. The airborne concentrations of contaminants in office buildings and homes are much lower than those found in industrial situations, and can be in the parts per billion (ppb) range. These low concentrations are well below legal exposure limits. This is because the concentration of air contaminants tolerated inside non-industrial settings is much lower than those allowed in industrial settings. Theoretically, one should not expect higher concentrations of contaminants indoors than one would find outdoors (that is, without the generation of industrial contaminants). Another reason is because the population that occupies office buildings, schools, health care settings, and homes is often different from that in industry. The ' indoor air quality' group may be more susceptible to the ill effects from air contaminants. Thus, lower contaminant levels are desirable.