Ductwork Inspections & Testing
We can offer Ductwork Inspections & Testing to BESA TR19, CIBSE TM26, HTM 0301, BS:EN15780 and much more.
Here at IAQ Services, we offer an impartial consultancy service with the aim of helping businesses stay safe for the benefit of both business owners and their employees. We can help you to find a suitable contractor, if you don’t already have one, and complete an audit upon completion of your contractors cleaning work.
Our ductwork inspections help your business become more hygienic through an intense inspection for mold, dust, bacteria and fungus within your ductwork. Without proper inspection your business could fail to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act.
To ensure that your legal position is covered in terms of ventilation system hygiene, you need to define:
- A ‘suitable and sufficient’ assessment of risk
- What ‘a suitable system of maintenance’ is
- What ‘suitable intervals’ for maintenance are
- When it is ‘appropriate’ to clean
- What ‘a suitable record’ for the validating of the maintenance programme is
Get in touch with our team by filling in the form on this page or calling us on 0330 133 5290.
What does our ventilation inspection involve?
- Photographic evidence of substances found
- PVT tests
- Microbial tests
As part of our ductwork inspections, we will take photographic evidence of any substances found throughout the inspection, as well as performing PVT tests and microbial tests.
Following on from the results of your ductwork inspection, we will make appropriate recommendations on the next steps to take. As we only provide consultancy, we can help you find a suitable cleaning contractor or if you have an existing contractor, we can help manage them.
Once the cleaning work has been completed after your initial ductwork inspection, we will then re-test your ventilation systems to ensure that the cleaning has made the required improvements to comply with health and safety regulations.
What are the benefits of Ductwork Inspections for Ventilation Hygiene?
The benefits of auditing your ventilation system are quite obvious, but we appreciate many businesses may consider its priority low on the list.
When you carry out a ductwork inspection, you’re providing your business with the information it needs to make the right actions to help remove and prevent the growth and build-up of dust and any other substances that could be hazardous to health.
As fungal spores and bacteria use dust and moisture as a source of growth. When air is passed across this dust it can be released into the workplace, and you have a legal obligation to prevent this from happening.
Ultimately, ductwork inspections are beneficial because they help you identify areas of your building that may be suffering from worrying levels of air pollution. Our audits are designed to educate you to understand the importance of indoor air quality, and how you can improve this moving forward.
The Law
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1978 sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and to each other.
Regulations are law, approved by Parliament. These are usually made under the Health and Safety at Work Act, following proposals from Health & Safety Executive (HSE).
Approved Codes of Practice (ACOP) offer practical examples of good practice. They give advice on how to comply with the law by, for example, providing a guide to what is ‘reasonably practicable’. For example, if regulations use words like ‘suitable and sufficient’, an Approved Code of Practice can illustrate what this requires in particular circumstances. Approved Codes of Practice have a special legal status.
Regulation 6 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires every enclosed workspace to be ventilated by a sufficient quantity of fresh or purified air. Regulation 5 of the same regulations requires mechanical ventilation systems to be subject to a suitable system of maintenance and cleaned as appropriate.
If and when, these are cleaned should be defined by the risk assessment process which are required by the following:
- Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and
- Within provision 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and
- Regulation 6 of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.
HSG202 General Ventilation in the workplace, guidance for employers’ states “as a general rule, if you run your finger along the opening of a duct and it collects dust then it probably needs cleaning”. It also notes that the BESA and CIBSE provide information on testing for likely contaminants in ductwork and on ductwork cleaning.
Request A Call-back
Want to learn more about our ventilation hygiene services? Request a call-back from a member of our team by filling in the form!
Alternatively, give us a call on 0330 133 5290 or email us info@iaqservices.co.uk.
Get in Touch
Don’t let poor ventilation affect your business and the people in it. Breathe easier by contacting our team who will be happy to answer any questions you have regarding our ventilation hygiene services.