The Importance of HEPA Air Purification in the Workplace

Why Do We Need Enhanced Air Filtration?

Global healthcare experts and virologists agree that airborne, aerosol transmission of viruses poses a significant threat. Infections and viruses are spread 6x more in the air than on surfaces.

Key Facts on Air Purification

  • WHO states that 7 million people die each year from air pollution
  • Viruses can live in the air for 3 hours plus
  • Indoor air is 3-5X dirtier than outdoor air
  • The average person inhales 10,800 liters of indoor air every day
  • Absence through sickness costs UK employers £32bn in lost productivity per year
  • Colds & Flu affect 15 Million people a year in the UK and 40% of Europeans suffer from allergic rhinitis.

Key Reasons for Air Purification

  • HVAC/Air-Handling is designed for human comfort, not infection prevention
  • Independent studies and hospitals have proven that HEPA Air Purification kills
    99.99% of airborne viruses and harmful pollutants
  • HEPA Purification not only removes viruses, mold and bacteria from the air
    but reduces respiratory illnesses such as asthma, removes odors, harmful
    VOCs & gases and increases life expectancy and overall wellbeing.

6 Benefits of HEPA Air Purification

Improves Productivity

Healthy air leads to healthy minds.
Improve the productivity and clear the mind through purification of the air you breathe & live.

Reduces Absenteeism

By eliminating airborne viruses & bacteria particles, sickness and general absenteeism will be reduced. Absenteeism costs billions globally.

Improves Perception

Poor air quality and odors give a bad perception of your brand. Give staff, clients and the public confidence that the air in your building is clean and fresh.

Reduces Odors

HEPA Air Purifiers remove the bacteria which cause odors. Freshen your air, improve the scent and breathe better with HEPA.

Healthier Environments

We all love a walk in the fresh air – why not bring the experience inside and create a more positive, health focused indoor environment?

Reduces Infection Risk

Independent healthcare studies have proven that air purification substantially reduces the risk of infections.

Air Filter Machines

Reduce Hospital Infections

Pioneering research by Addenbrooke’s has resulted in air filter machines being installed across the Trust to help reduce the risk of Covid infection for patients and staff.

The installation of 80 machines follows research carried out on Covid wards at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in January 2021, at the height of the second wave of the pandemic.

The study found that air filter machines remove almost all traces of airborne Covid virus and other viruses, bacteria and fungi that are also known to cause infection.

Effectiveness Against COVID

The researchers installed the filters in two fully occupied COVID-19 wards — a general ward and an ICU. The team collected air samples from the wards during a week when the air filters were on and 2 weeks when they were turned off, then compared results.

According to the study, “airborne SARS-CoV-2 was detected in the ward on all five days before activation of air filtration, but on none of the five days when the air filter was operational; SARS-CoV-2 was again detected on four out of five days when the filter was “off.“

Building Ventilation

  • Moving air through a space
  • Increased air flow dilutes filtration
  • Aerosol-borne virus in a building

In-Room Filtration

  • Moving air within a space
  • Increased air flow increases filtration
  • Aerosol-borne virus from a room

HEPA is Different from HVAC Mechanical Ventilation

  • HVAC generally has low ventilation rates and has low grade filtration.
  • HVAC is designed to efficiently mix air in a room which could contribute to distribution of viruses/bacteria.
  • HVAC easily moves contaminated air in a room to other spaces.
  • Expensive to change or improve filtration in an HVAC system.
  • Changes to a HVAC system that may seem beneficial don’t necessarily change or resolve infection control, especially without extensive engineering.
  • No regulations/requirement to maintain or change filtration in HVAC.

Additional Information:

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is an Air Purifier?
A. An air purifiers is a device which cleans the air from a closed space by removing airborne pollutants.
Q. How does an Air Purifier work?
A. The most common way an air purifier works is to draw air from a given space, such as a living room, into the unit and then have it pass through several layers of filtering devices within the unit and then have it recycled and released back into the room, through a vent from the unit, as clean or purified air.
Q. What does HEPA Stand for?
A. High-Efficiency Particulate Air. A HEPA filter is made of different kids of fibers. It is designed to capture particles with great efficiency. A HEPA filter can remove more than 99.97% of microns down to 0.03 microns. What does this mean? For every 10,000 particles entering the HEPA filter, an average of 3 would pass all the way through the filter.
Q. Does a HEPA filter capture VOCs and gasses?
A. A HEPA air purifier filter will not capture gasses and odors. That is why activated carbon is normally used in conjunction with a HEPA filter. It will capture the pollutants, such as gasses and odors, that the HEPA filter misses.
Q. What airborne pollutants does an air purifier filter?
A. An air purifier uses several different filtering (purification) technologies to remove airborne pollutants such as dust, smoke, pollen, pet dander, mold & mildew spores, bacteria & viruses, and other airborne particulates as
small as 0.3 microns.
Q. Do Air purifiers reduce moisture?
A. No
Q. Why are air purifiers needed?
A. Indoor air is 3-5x more polluted than outdoor air. Traditional ventilation and HVAC/Air handling systems are for human comfort, not for health & well-being or infection prevention. The only practical method to safely reduce airborne contamination and pollutants is by passing the air through highly efficient filters 4-6x per hour.
Q. What are the primary sources of air pollution?
A. Smoke, Pollen, Dander, Mould & Mildew, Dust, Viruses, VOCs
Q. What is a VOC?
A. A VOC is a volatile organic compound – a large group of chemicals found in many products such as sprays. Breathing VOCs can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, and can cause difficulty breathing and nausea, damage the central nervous system. Some VOCs can cause cancer.
Q. What are harmful pollutants?
A. PM2.5 & PM10 are the most renown harmful particle sizes.
Q. What is PM2.5?
A. PM2.5 are combustion particles, organic compounds, metals etc which are so small they can bypass the nose and throat and easily enter into lungs and blood stream and lead to asthma, heart attacks, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses.
Q. What is PM10?
A. Dust, pollen, mold etc. Exposure to high concentrations of PM10 can result in coughing, wheezing, asthma attacks, high blood pressure, strokes and premature death.
Q. How many air changes per hour is good?
A. 4-6 air changes per hour is recommended.

What to Look for in an Air Purifier

  • Calculate the size of the room/environment for the purifier
  • Choose a purifier with high enough CADR to achieve 4-6 air changes/hr in the room
  • Choose the type of filtration – HEPA 13 & 14 recommended with active carbon
  • Consider noise and ongoing costs
  • Avoid air purifiers that contribute to indoor air pollution. Ozone producing air purifiers should be avoided at all costs

Choosing the correct CADR

  • The larger the CADR, the more particulate matter the filter will remove from the air.
  • Typically the larger the room, the higher CADR you need.
  • The following CADRs are calculated based on an 8-feet ceiling & 5 air changes/hour.
Room Area (sq ft)100200300400500600
Min CADR (CFM)65130195260325390

What does it cost to operate beyond purchase?

  • Filter Replacements
  • Utility Bills – Energy Star Label
  • Automatic fan speed for pollution levels

What’s in the air, and what do you want to remove?

  • Particulates – Dust, pollen, smoke…the higher the CADR and faster the fan speed, the better job the filter will do at removing particulates
  • Gases & VOCs – the best type of filter to handle gases is an activated carbon filter as it absorbs and holds toxic and noxious gases.

How noisy is the machine?

Noise pollution can be as irritating as air pollution. In general and air purifier with a noise rating of 50 decibels is appropriate for most spaces. A modern refrigerator produces about 50 decibels.

Product Overviews - HEPA Air Filtration Systems

ZONA - 200

For spaces up to 25m2
CADR = 250m3 / hr
HEPA 13 – 99.95% effective down to 0.1 microns
Removes Gases, VOCs & Odors
OEM, SMART Tech, Optional UV/C

zONA - 490

For spaces up to 50m2
CADR = 488m3 / hr
HEPA 14 – 99.999% effective down to 0.1 microns
Removes Gases, VOCs & Odors
SMART Tech, Optional UV/C

ZONA - 620

For spaces up to 100m2
CADR = 620m3 / hr
HEPA 14 – 99.999% effective down to 0.1 microns
Removes Gases, VOCs & Odors
SMART Tech, Optional UV/C

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