Vent-Axiawelcomes NICE guidance on indoor air quality in the home

Leading British ventilation manufacturer Vent-Axia has welcomed the draft guidance ‘Indoor Air Quality at Home’ published by National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The consultation document, which was published on Friday 28 June 2019, urges both local authorities and the public to be aware of the air quality in their homes to reduce exposure to indoor pollutants and protect their health. Within the guidance it advises people to ensure rooms are well ventilated by extractor fans or by opening windows when cooking, drying clothes inside, using household sprays or solvents and paints.

With exterior air pollution already high on the UK’s agenda Vent-Axia is pleased that the dangers associated with poor indoor air quality (IAQ) are now being recognised especially since recent research on respiratory health has pointed to non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) in the home posing a risk to health. Currently a staggering 65% of UK homes suffer from poor IAQ as a result of inadequate ventilation. Exposure to indoor air pollution from cookers, damp, cleaning products and fires can all irritate the lungs and exacerbate asthma symptoms, as well as causing long-term adverse health effects. Poor Indoor air quality costs the UK over 204,000 healthy life years, with 45% lost to cardiovascular diseases, 23% to asthma and allergy and 15% to lung cancer.

Within the draft guidance the document confirms the critical role ventilation plays in removing potential pollutants and improving indoor air quality. NICE’s guidance therefore advises households on how to increase ventilation by using extractor fans in bathrooms and kitchens or opening windows when: using cookers, open solid fires, candles, free-standing gas heaters, cleaning products, household sprays or aerosols and paints; having a bath or shower; and air-drying clothes in the home.

“At Vent-Axia we are committed to improving indoor air quality. With homes becoming increasingly air tight the problem of poor IAQ has become less easy to ignore. Without good ventilation in a home air quality can potentially deteriorate and as a result can lead to condensation, mould and build-up of toxic chemicals,” explains Jenny Smith, Head of Marketing at Vent-Axia. “Recent research points to chemical products that contain compounds refined from petroleum, such as household cleaning products, now rivalling vehicle emissions as the top source of urban air pollution.” The draft guidance consultation for ‘Indoor Air Quality at Home’ runs from 28 June 2019 – 09 August 2019. It is expected the guidance will be published on 11 December 2019.

vent-axia.com