October is National Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Awareness Month — and for facility managers, air quality isn’t just about comfort. It affects employee well-being, productivity, and compliance, while shaping how efficiently buildings operate.
Basic strategies like filter changes and humidity control are important, but the most effective approach goes beyond the basics — measuring, validating, and optimizing for health, compliance, and cost savings.
Here are the checks that truly matter, and how to prioritize them for measurable results.
1. Start With a Building Ventilation Assessmentment
A quick building ventilation assessment can be completed in under an hour and offers real insight:
- CO₂ spot checks at peak load (≤900 ppm ideal; >1200 ppm indicates under-ventilation).
- Outdoor-air fraction vs. design — drift of ≥15% is common and impacts IAQ and energy use.
- Variable Air Volume (VAV) minimums — pandemic-era overrides may still be wasting energy without adding protection.
- Differential pressure — critical zones should hold ±0.02–0.05 in. w.c. consistently.
- Humidity review — excursions outside 30–60% often signal hidden risks.
2. Optimize Filters Without Overloading Fans
Higher MERV filters don’t automatically mean better IAQ. Always compare filter upgrades to fan capacity and static pressure. Extended-life cartridges can reduce labor costs and downtime — but only if the system is sized for them.
3. Check Ventilation Effectiveness, Not Just Volume
Even high airflow can fail if air short-circuits from supply to return. Smoke tests in classrooms, patient rooms, or production areas quickly reveal distribution issues. Align ventilation schedules to actual occupancy to cut waste without harming IAQ.
4. Put Monitoring Into Action
IAQ sensors – CO₂, Particulate Matter (PM), Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) – must be placed where people actually breathe, calibrated regularly, and tied to work orders. Otherwise, they’re just dashboard clutter.
5. Maintain Humidity and Pressurization Guardrails
- Healthcare and life sciences: Pressurization logs and root-cause tracking for excursions should align with Corrective Action and Preventative Actions (CAPA) or infection-control protocols.
- Education and office: Validate dehumidification capacity before seasonal shifts to prevent mold growth and comfort complaints.
Facility Air Quality Management by ROI
Prioritize upgrades in order of payback:
- Immediate/No CapEx: (low-cost operational adjustments) recommission OA setpoints, reset VAV mins, seal duct leaks, clean coils.
- Low CapEx: (minor investments with fast ROI) demand-controlled ventilation, extended-life filters, zone-specific sensors.
- CapEx-Lite: (medium projects that save energy long-term) energy recovery systems or supplemental outdoor air.
- CapEx: (larger capital projects) fan array retrofits for redundancy and higher static pressure in mission-critical spaces.
Avoid Common Pitfalls
- Upgrading filters without static pressure checks.
- Leaving pandemic overrides in place.
- Relying only on design docs, not measured airflow.
- Deploying too many sensors in poor locations.
For your sector
- Life Sciences & Healthcare: log pressurization and RH excursions, tie to CAPAs; align with your CQV/GMP or infection-risk frameworks.
- Education: prioritize CO₂ in high-density rooms; fix distribution before adding tonnage.
- Manufacturing: focus on source capture + pressurization of clean/dirty zones; ventilation effectiveness beats raw CFM.
A Strategic Approach to Air Quality
Facility air quality management is about more than compliance — it’s about aligning air quality, energy efficiency, and operational resilience.
At LC Anderson, our proven process — Align → Assess → Optimize → Execute → Monitor & Maintain — keeps facilities focused on their business, not their buildings. From recommissioning and filter strategy to embedded on-site technicians, we partner with facility managers to ensure healthy, reliable, and efficient operations.
Ready to see how your facility measures up?
👉 Request a Facility Air Quality Management Assessment
