Low-Cost Interventions that Reduce Particle Levels Indoors Are Viable Options to Enhance the Operating Efficiency of Occupants

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is now well recognized as impacting employee work efficiency. Poor indoor air quality can lead to productivity problems and absence from work. To examine IAQ conditions inside offices in an academic institute, IIT Kanpur, real-time monitoring of particulate matter (PM) was conducted during office hours (10 am to 5 pm). Particulate levels inside five offices on different floors of a multi-storeyed building were monitored over three consecutive days. All offices are on the same side of the building and have 3–6 permanent staff each. Office occupants were given a questionnaire survey to obtain feedback on health-related discomfort indoors (sleepiness, headache, and eye irritation). Only one location (Office A on the first floor) marginally met the current WHO guidelines for PM10 (45 μg/m3), and all others far exceeded it. At least one-fifth of the staff in the four offices that do not meet the WHO guidelines complained about health-related discomfort. Mass (due to PM10) retained in the trachea-bronchi (TB) of the lungs of office (these four) occupants (using the Multiple-Path Particle Dosimetry (MPPD) model) was 50% (average) higher than that in the case of staff in office A. The office with the highest number of printing appliances shows the highest concentration of fine-particulate matter (PM1) and confirms the influence of indoor sources on IAQ. Air purifiers are low-cost interventions that can improve IAQ. Achieving the WHO guidelines inside offices will reduce particle mass retained on the TB up to a staggering 56%. Meeting guidelines may increase the efficiency of workers in these offices by 12–45%.