Air Filters Unlimited’s
General Hospital IAQ Program
Air Filters Unlimited along with Tri-Dim Filter Corporation has designed a proactive, comprehensive IAQ program tailored to your hospital that will provide you with the necessary steps to develop and implement an ongoing IAQ management program, as outlined by the Joint Commission in the publication “A Guide To Managing Indoor Air Quality In Health Care Organizations.”
The scope of our work will include a visual inspection of each air handling unit’s filter system, surface and water sampling (if needed), air sampling with an Anderson N6, taking particle counts with a laser particle counter, as well as filter recommendations and pictorial references of the filter systems.
Airborne testing of the air within the normally occupied space will be performed in locations on each floor of each building relative to each air handling system. We recommend that you have the air sampling done for each air handler minimally on an annual basis. This can be done by testing half the air handlers every 6 months. During the test, particles are impinged in both TSA and MEA media. These samples are sent to a test lab and incubated. Once the cultures have developed, CFU’s are identified, concentration levels of each contaminant are measured, a CFU count per cubic meter of air is recorded and the results will be put into your IAQ catalog for review and future reference.
While there isn’t a target number of CFU’s to go by, the Joint Commission does state that you should be aware, from your tests, of how many CFU’s are present and how that corresponds with the outside air samples. If the indoor air count is higher than the outside count, it might be an indication of an IAQ problem. This may warrant further inspection of the air handling system, which might include surface and water sampling and a visual inspection of the duct work. The results of the inspection may be as simple as vacuuming and disinfecting the unit or upgrading the filters, but could also involve larger issues that may lead to duct cleaning and mold remediation.
The particle counter takes in a measured amount of air (either 0.1 or 1.0 cubic feet), then counts and records the number and size of particles per square foot. The particle count analysis will give you particle concentrations per cubic foot of air in a range of sizes from 0.3 microns to 10 microns. With this device, we will also be able to take temperature and humidity readings. The pictorial will give a reference of your current filter system. Should you makes changes, it will be easy to document improvements of deficiencies in the proposed upgrades.
In summary, our goal is to provide your hospital with an ongoing IAQ program that is proactive, cost effective, and easy to implement.
