Survey Finds Facility Managers Focused on Indoor Air Quality During the Pandemic

Although nearly 60% of surveyed companies spent more than US$500,000 to upgrade or install HVAC systems in order to protect people in their facilities from catching COVID-19, half of the companies that didn’t budget for HVAC improvements believe they don’t have reliable, unbiased information for improving their indoor air quality, according to a survey from Omni CleanAir, a maker of commercial-grade air purification systems.

The survey questioned more than 430 managers in facilities across the U.S. regarding their COVID-19 precautions and defense measures. It found in the past 12 months:

• 73% of survey respondents upgraded existing HVAC systems that support improved filtration
• 63% upgraded existing HVAC systems that support medical-grade filtration
• 60% installed new HVAC systems
• 51% deployed portable air purification systems
• 42% deployed ultraviolet (UV) systems for germicidal irradiation
• 37% deployed ionization technologies.

The survey found most (95.6%) companies tried to do something to combat COVID-19 transmission in poorly ventilated, indoor spaces. Nearly 60% of companies spent over $500,000, on these air quality improvements, with 26% spending more than $5 million to upgrade and install HVAC systems.

In some cases, business felt compelled to try relatively new and unproven ionization technologies, which have been criticized for being ineffective and possibly dangerous. 

Among the survey respondents who hadn’t taken any actions to improve indoor air quality, most (79%) indicated they would include money in their budget for this purpose within the next 12 months. Among the 21% who did not plan to invest in indoor air quality, 50% said their decision was based on insufficient education about the importance of ventilation.  

Learn the basic steps of improving indoor air quality in your facility.