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Modern
buildings are virtually
hermetically sealed - trapping airborne pollutants
indoors.
Harmful
airborne pollutants are emitted from many common office items such
as printers,copiers,
furnishings,
carpets, cleaning materials etc. The
interior environment can be 5 to 7
times more polluted than outdoors.
Air conditioning results in low
humidity levels and recycles pollutants. Even
in offices with good climatic
control 25% of staff are dissatisfied
with
the working environment. Airborne
contaminants are thought to
be a major cause of "sick building syndrome". Business
generally is under increasing pressure to establish its green credentials.
Indoor
air pollution and low humidity
are now ranked in the top five threats
to
public health. |
Plants
filter and purify the air leading
to a significant
reduction in the symtoms
of exposure to aborne pollutants:
Fatigue -20%
Headache -45%
Sore/dry throat -30%
Cough -40%
Dry facial skin -25%
Plants
control humidity to within the
optimum range for human health.
Humidity
levels play a underestimated
and important role in human health.
When
humidity levels are too low, individuals are more likely to develop
viral
infections; when humidity is too
high, vulnerability to disease increases.
Plants
absorb carbon dioxide and
emit oxygen. This obviously reduces
your
carbon footprint but also the
increased oxygen level refreshes the air
and
you - leading to increased concentration and productivity (in various studies
between 10%-15% increase). These
benefits, and many others, are underpinned by a wealth of research. For more details
including independent external links and research references see the
health
benefits page.
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Productivity
There have been a number of studies evaluating the effect of the presence
of interior plants on employee performance particularly in respect of computor
based tasks. The studies measured factors such as error rate, speed of completion
and concentration levels. All the studies found an improvement in
performance levels of between 10% to 15% when plants
were present.
Absenteeism
It
has been shown that plants in the workplace permanently cut absence
due to
illness. In 1999, 187 million working days were lost in the UK. This translates
to around 8 days per employee, in total 3.4% of working time.
In one Norwegian
hospital the introduction of interior plants cut the absenteeism rate by 60%.
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