As lockdown eases and the work from home directive has ended, more employees are starting to return to the workplace, undertaking an AirRISK assessment can give them and their employers more confidence.
BonaCaeli offer AirRISK that identify the risks involved in the spread of airborne diseases and where the risks are, making your workplace safer for everyone. It gives you your risk level and potential mitigation measures to give you and your employees confidence.
David Nason, Sales & Marketing at BonaCaeli told us “If you have not assessed the air in your building, you have overlooked a very major health risk to your employees… and almost impossible to implement measures to mitigate.”
All employers have statutory duties to provide a safe place of work and general legal duties of care towards anyone who may be accessing or using their place of business. To discharge these duties, they must take the steps to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments to identify any issues.
Risk assessments should also look at different groups of workers, like vulnerable workers, for whom you may need to take extra health and safety measures and then implement measures to minimise those risks. Taking all reasonably practicable steps to minimise the risks isn’t the same as having to eliminate the risks altogether. BonaCaeli offers three areas of expertise, providing AirRISK assessments, monitoring CO2 levels in indoor environments and risk reduction.
In February 2021, scientists stated that the evidence was clear the SARS-CoV-2, or the coronavirus, is predominantly transmitted through the air. People spread it when they talk and breathe out large droplets and small particles, called aerosols. It also seems that catching the virus from surface is possible, but rare.
There are methods and models that can tell you exactly what happens should COVID walk in through your front door and where the ‘air risk’ would be. An AirRISK assessment allows smaller premises to take advantage of a basic level of COVID-19 risk assessment and mitigation.
If you have a more complex environment, movement of individuals around the space can be modelled to include infected and uninfected individuals. It identifies the various occupancy levels and routes used by people as they enter and move through the space, as well as the visiting of focal points/facilities before arriving at temporary resting points. It considers important features of the building or venue, including entrances, focal points, like sanitising stations, service hatches/bars, vending machines, restroom locations, ventilation, windows, seating and occupancy levels, how it is used and community COVID-19 infection rates can all be taken in to account. The methodology includes zoning the space to represent discrete occupancy and uses.
When having an AirRISK Assessment done in a workplace, employers get more than just an independent AirRISK certificate. It demonstrates that you have reduced your risk of airborne COVID-19 transmission indoors, but more importantly, it can give your employees that extra confidence to make them want to come back to the office and reduce other airborne viruses this winter.
BonaCaeli are experts at reducing the risk of COVID-10 in indoor spaces. Independently assessed and commended by the UK Government scientific experts.