The main controllable influences are temperature, humidity, and air flow.
The temperature of the air that is supplied within a building is controlled at either the air handling unit or the fan coil units. The industry standard set for the temperature recorded on the floor in a building is between 21˚C and 23˚C in the winter and 22˚C and 24˚C in the summer. This difference between the temperatures is to help with thermal comfort, as it is based on the variance between outside air and the inside air.
The idea is to make the inside environment comfortable for people in the building, but also avoiding the feeling of getting off an airplane in a hot country and being hit by a wall of hot air.
Relative humidity also has a large effect on how a building environment can feel. If the humidity is too high, it can feel muggy in the space, which can lead to people feeling lethargic and tired. It can also promote mould, which can have negative effects on health. Low humidity on the other hand, can lead to a whole different plethora of issues, including skin irritation, dry eyes, and even ‘phantom’ bug bites from static in the air.
Relative humidity can be heavily affected by the conditioning of the supplied air. If it’s cold outside, the air will be heated a lot to reach the desired temperature, although it has a side effect of drying the air out and reducing humidity. The industry standard set for relative humidity is between 40-70%.
The last major controllable influence is air flow. Air being blown at someone will feel colder than the same air just standing. Making sure that the air flow is at an acceptable level will help to make people feel more comfortable in their work environment.
The easiest way to have good thermal comfort in a work environment is to maintain the factors talked about above, but also encourage people to influence their own feelings. Drinking water can drastically help the affects from low humidity. Placing plants around an office, whilst doing very little to affect the humidity, creates an impression that the humidity is better. Making sure people are not sitting where air is “falling” on them will make sure that there aren’t any people suffering from unexpected drafts.
If you need any advice, support or monitoring of the indoor environment in your workplace, please get in touch.