FD6 - Air Quality and Ventillation
| Issue Date | Effective Date | Version |
|---|---|---|
| 19/09/2017 | 01/01/2018 | 1.0 |
Purpose
To establish safety guidelines for air quality and ventilation within an indoor aquatic facility.
Air Quality
Workplaces should be adequately ventilated. Fresh, clean air should be drawn from outside the workplace, uncontaminated by discharge from flues or other outlets, and be circulated through the workplace.
Workplaces inside buildings may have natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation (fans or extraction units) or air-conditioning. An air-conditioning system should:
- Provide a comfortable environment in relation to air temperature, humidity and air movement
- Prevent the excessive accumulation of odours
- Reduce the levels of respiratory by-products, especially carbon dioxide, and other indoor contaminants that may arise from work activities
- Supply an amount of fresh air to the workplace, exhaust some of the stale air as well as filter and recirculate some of the indoor air.
Natural ventilation should consist of permanent openings, including windows and doors, that:
- In total are the size of at least five per cent of the floor area of the room
- Are open to the sky, an open covered area or an appropriately ventilated adjoining room.
Natural ventilation may be assisted by mechanical ventilation.
Enclosed workplaces should be supplied with comfortable rates of air movement (usually between 0.1 m and 0.2 m per second).
Air-conditioning and other ventilation systems should be regularly serviced and maintained in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions. Cooling towers that form part of many air-conditioning systems may be a favourable environment for Legionella bacteria if they are not properly designed and maintained.
Exposure to these bacteria can cause the potentially fatal Legionnaire’s disease. Cooling towers should be designed, installed and maintained in accordance with AS/NZS 3666 – Air handling and water systems of buildings.
Work processes that release harmful levels of airborne contaminants (e.g. lead fumes, acid mist, and solvent vapour) will require specific control measures to remove them at the source, such as local exhaust ventilation.
References
- Further information regarding air quality is available in AS 1668.2 – The use of ventilation and air-conditioning in buildings.
