Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER JANUARY 2020 NEWS 9 VOC is probably formaldehyde, according to Miriam Diamond, professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto. "Formaldehyde — for those of us with long memories — was the compound that pickled the frog that we dissected in school, but it's a gas and that's what a vola- tile organic compound is — it's something that you can easily smell," she says. "But formaldehyde is also re- leased from particle board; any- thing that uses seeds, binders or resins. Formaldehyde can be higher in areas that have new par- ticle board furniture or new con- struction particle board because nothing's made of solid wood anymore… and there have been some studies that have related formaldehyde to cancers." No regulations restricting levels of air contamination Despite the potential risks, no specific regulations exist in Can- ada that restrict the level of air contamination, say the experts, although workers do enjoy basic protections. "Employees always have the right to work at a hazard-free environment, and that includes air quality. They have the right to knowledge about what the haz- ards are in the workspace, and then they have the right to provide a mechanism to report hazards. Indoor air quality is treated like any other hazard, and so part of the internal responsibility system under the Occupational Health and Safety Act is that they have the right to identify those hazards and work with the employer to mitigate the risk," says Mannella. Even people breathing can cause issues, especially in an en- closed setting. "When people exhale carbon dioxide, the buildup of carbon dioxide alone just makes you drowsy," says Diamond. "It's just that there are too many of us stuck in these con- fined spaces." But most of the time, it comes down to "comfort parameters, poor humidity, poor air flow, maybe some odours, but certain- ly air quality, particularly with seasonal swings and because of financial, budget pullback, main- tenance is cut to reduce costs. And, at some point, you end up with an air quality and inequality problem," says Glyn Jones, a part- ner at EHS Partnerships in Cal- gary, a company that conducts indoor air quality investigations for employers. Governments should play a more active role to help address the issue, he says. "The first challenge we have is every province and territory has its own jurisdiction for OHS [oc- cupational health and safety] man- agement. And the general rule is OHS does not manage air quality, it doesn't set air quality standards for buildings," says Jones. "The only body that really sets air quality standards is through the building code, the National Building Code and provincial building codes — all call up design standards for ventilation systems and the design standards are set by the ASHRAE [American Soci- ety of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers]." But this is compounded be- cause "not all provinces have the same capacity to develop, imple- ment and monitor standards, as we have wealthy provinces and we have less wealthy provinces," says Diamond. "We don't want a patchwork of standards and regulations that af- fects the health of Canadians." What does protect employees is "a general duty clause, which requires employers to provide a healthy and safe workplace. There isn't explicit legislation that talks specifically to air so, generally, it falls under the general duty clause and that's reducing the hazard," says Mannella. Combatting the air quality issue There are many ways to address the issue, say the experts. For one, proper ventilation guaran- tees good air quality, according to Jones. "When ventilation rates are insufficient, contaminants that are being brought into the work- place, or that are naturally there, will accumulate to levels that are either uncomfortable or un- healthy," says Jones. "This has been going on prob- ably since the 1970s when ASH- RAE lowered the design ventila- tion rate of building in response to the energy crisis of 1973." Addressing the air quality issue requires proper planning on the part of employers, according to Jones. "What that study was actually talking about is that, oftentimes, in an office space, no one's really looking at the ventilation system; mechanically, people are to make sure it's running, but different things can happen to it so that it's not delivering as much outside air," he says. "You're not getting good dilution of contaminants and so those contaminants can rise and create a problem." HR's role involves reporting, policies Human resources professionals should understand that they have a duty to have a mechanism to report concerns from employees, says Mannella, "as well as a pro- cedure to follow up on investiga- tion and then, ultimately, correct- ive action." HR should also review a couple of steps, such as engineering controls, "which would be swap- ping out old infrastructure for new or using new technology like sensors in old buildings to help understand the source of the issue. There are administra- tive controls, which are obviously policies and procedures, so things like no tobacco at the entrance of a building where people have to come in and out or sensitivity in the workplace." And then, of course, there may be the need for people to wear personal protective equipment, she says. "In the event that there are chemicals used in the space, there's obviously some respirators and things like that that they can use to reduce their exposure." As well, many offices have in- stituted a no-scent policy, which provides some relief to workers who are overly sensitive to them, says Diamond. "As far as I understand, we're not really sure which fragrances can trigger reactions like respira- tory reactions, but any time you put a fragrance on, the fragrance is released into the air." Ultimately, business impera- tive is the best argument for ensuring that air quality is good inside an office setting, according to Jones. "If you've got 10 per cent of your employees complaining that the air quality is poor and you have 5,000 employees, you have 500 employees that are complaining and probably not working very hard and so, purely from an efficiency point of view, that's ultimately the driver for us doing these investigations. Em- ployees complain, complaining employees are not efficient, lack of efficiency cost money, there- fore, we should investigate — not because some legislation says so [but] because it's a reasonable thing to do in response to em- ployees' concerns." No specific regulations restrict air contamination AIR QUALITY < pg. 1 "Not all provinces have the same capacity to develop, implement and monitor standards, as we have wealthy provinces and we have less wealthy provinces." Credit: Dmytro Zinkevych (Shutterstock) Business imperative is the best argument for ensuring air quality is acceptable inside an office setting, says one expert. Visit hrreporter.com/hr-vendors-guide GET LISTED IN THE HR VENDORS GUIDE HRVG filler print ad_9.625x3.5.indd 1 11/12/2019 4:14:49 AM

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