Ventilation and air-conditioning poster wins award

A poster produced by the DGUV’s Institute of Prevention and Occupational Medicine (abbreviated to "IPA" in German) and the Expert Committee on Printing and Paper Processing was one of three posters recently awarded a prize by the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Agency. The poster provides a summary of the results of the work carried out jointly by the Institute and the Committee to compare rapid tests for determining the bacteria level in ventilation and air-conditioning units at the workplace. Such tests are necessary because the bacterial level has to be sufficiently low as not to pose any health risks for the employees due to microbial bioaerosols. (Download poster)

The testing and certification body of the Expert Committee on Printing and Paper Processing tests and certifies humidifiers, concentrating not only on the health aspects, but also on how easy the units are to service and how cost-efficiently they can be run. Humidifiers that pass the tests are awarded the DGUV "Optimierte Luftbefeuchtung" (optimised humidification) test mark. The mark is considered to be the most comprehensive verification of a humidifier’s ability to be operated hygienically and safely on a permanent basis.

To prevent damage to health, ventilation and air-conditioning units must be correctly planned, installed, operated and maintained. With this in mind, the testing and certification body will start running a new training course for persons seeking to become certified "Indoor Air Quality Managers" in 2012.

For more information, please visit
www.dguv.de/dguv-test/de/produktsicherheit ().