Workplace not immune to air quality concerns, experts say: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. offers education, resources for evaluating, improving indoor air quality. (Health).

The Older Adult Centre in Greater Sudbury recently played host to an indoor air quality seminar hosted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) and The Ontario Lung Association. The focus of the seminar was to provide education on improving the air quality in homes.

However, as one representative from CMHC says, air is air and the workplace is not immune to air quality concerns.

"Certainly you can draw parallels between the home and the work place," says William Crawford, a senior technical advisor for CMHC. "A building is a building and air is air. Everybody here is passionate about one thing and that is the air they are breathing and the effects the air is having on their health, whether it be at the workplace, or at the church, or at the shopping mall, or in your homes."

When it comes to the workplace, Crawford believes there are many steps workers can take and many questions they should ask. Some of those questions include:

* Where are you storing your inks?

* Where are you storing your solvents?

* Where are you storing your cleaning sup plies?

* What kind of electronic equipment do you have?

* What about cleaning of the building or painting of the building?

* What is on the walls?

* What is on the floors?

* What about the ventilation system?

* Is it adequate?

* Is it really appropriate for the room that you are working in?

If any worker does have a concern about their workplace's air quality or if a worker notices personal symptoms, stuffiness, mold, odor, dampness, or excess moisture in their workplace, Crawford suggests that worker take immediate action.

"If you have a problem with air in your own workplace, you should talk with your manager or supervisor," he says. "If you are having a problem with air, so is everyone else you are working with. So get together and see who else is affected by this."

Meanwhile, the air quality manager for the Ontario Lung Association, Brian Stocks, points out that the Ministry of Labour does have regulations for air quality in the workplace that serve to protect workers. He suggests workers take advantage of those regulations. However, his primary concern is with tobacco smoke since it has been shown to be a leading cause of throat and lung problems, like lung cancer and asthma.

"Certainly, the workplace needs to be smoke-free," he says.

"Some city bylaws require that, and some do not...but employers who do not protect their employees from tobacco smoke in the workplace may very well see themselves faced with liability issues down the road."

"Everybody should be guaranteed a safe environment at work," he concludes. "The federal government does it for their employees, the provincial government does it for their employees, and many cities do it, but nobody looks after some of the other workers in the private sector. The municipalities have the authority to do that in workplaces within their own areas and they should be taking that on."

Ultimately, what he would like to see is a province-wide bylaw on smoking, not only in the workplace, but in all public places.