Spaces we assess
Environmental assessment of offices and workplaces
Offices, private offices and coworking spaces, including the adaptation of specific workstations.
A workplace is assessed as a system: the building, its installations, equipment, materials, ventilation, surroundings and the way it is occupied all influence one another. The scope of the assessment is defined once that whole is understood.
Starting point
What we look at in a workplace
Before deciding what to measure, we look at what the space is like and how people work in it.
These six variables explain why two offices in the same building may call for different assessments.
- Use. Which areas are occupied, at what times and for how many consecutive hours.
- Occupancy. How many people work in each area and at which workstations.
- Materials. Finishes, furniture, floor and wall coverings and products present indoors.
- Installations. Electricity, heating and air conditioning, lighting, telecommunications and IT equipment.
- Ventilation. Air renewal, air conditioning and humidity conditions.
- Surroundings. What lies around the building, on neighbouring floors and beneath it.
Where the assessment focuses
The workstation is where people stay longest in an office.
Measurements are taken at the points of prolonged occupancy: workstations and the rooms where most hours are spent.
A workplace also involves factors that carry less weight in a home: the density of IT equipment, synthetic coverings, centralised air conditioning and many people occupying the same room at once.
Scope
What is assessed most often
There is no fixed package. The prior inspection determines which factors are worth measuring in each workplace and which add nothing in that particular case.
Specific workstations
Environmental adaptation of workstations
Adapting a specific workstation is planned together with the company or its occupational health and safety service, and covers the physical environment as well as the materials and equipment present.
Timing
When is an assessment advisable?
Process
How it works and what you receive
Understanding the case, inspecting the space, deciding what needs to be assessed, measuring or sampling, interpreting the results together and documenting them. The sequence is the same in any space; what changes is the scope.
- Results of the measurements taken, with their locations.
- A combined technical interpretation, not factor by factor.
- Improvement measures ranked by their expected effect on exposure.
- A distinction between what can be solved without building work and what requires it.
Other spaces
Not an office you want assessed?
Tell us about your workplace
Tell us what you have noticed, in which area and since when. We will agree the scope of the assessment and the corresponding quotation with you before it is carried out.