THE IAQ-ASE® CERTIFICATE

GUARANTEE OF THE RESULT OF AIR QUALITY IN INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS

 

    WHY INTERVENE ON AIR QUALITY?

The microbiological agents present in the air are airborne whether in the form of bioaerosol and in the bond to powders and liquid particles, and consequently fall on the environments’ surfaces in which they are found with the effect of creating a risk of exposure to these microorganisms for people. by inhalation, by contact with contaminated surfaces and objects or even by ingestion.

That is why there is the need to protect everyone’s health by counteracting such a risk.

For workplaces the obligation to adopt prevention and/or protection measures – including collective protection measures – that can help to eliminate or reduce the risk of exposure to microbiological agents within recognized thresholds of acceptability according to the state of the techniques that we know.

 

  HOW TO CONTINUOUSLY OBTAIN AIR SANITIZATION IN INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS?

Air sanitization can be obtained by applying the CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® protocol which effectively reduces the risk of exposure to microbiological agents in indoor environments frequented by people, or animals and/or with the presence of plants, during normal daily activities H24/7; thus creating healthier living and working environments.

The air sanitization air obtained by applying the CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® protocol is verified and verifiable by laboratory tests conducted according to the UNI-EN 13098 standard.

In fact, the IAQ-ASE® quality certification can be released only on the basis of rigorous process validations after careful checks carried out by professionally competent subjects, in order to guarantee the result of the CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® action, under the conditions and terms that they are specified here and can be further explored on the website www.iaq-ase.org

 

TECHNOLOGIES USED FOR CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION®

CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® develops its continuous effect in the whole internal environment, where it is applied, allowing the presence of people during the performance of normal activities, through an appropriate installation of devices tested both for their effectiveness and for their harmfulness, under the terms and conditions specified below.

Regarding effectiveness:

-Test in laboratory

IAQ-ASE SA requires rigorous tests to the manufacturer of the devices to be used and directly performs tests on the devices that are proposed. Periodically, the devices already approved are subjected to further tests in accredited laboratories according to official regulations, such as the test centre BPL – UNI EN ISO 9001: 2015 UNI EN ISO 13485: 2016 – in particular a test for the evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental disinfection of non-porous surfaces on the target Staphylococcus aureus strain.

This proof found that the tested device achieved culls of the Staphylococcus aureus target strain up to log 4 (99.99%) and, more precisely:

• in the average of the 8 distribution tests – Staphylococcus aureus culling confirmed at – 84.25%
• in the average effectiveness – Staphylococcus aureus culling confirmed at – 87.01%.

 

The test confirmed the significant continuous sanitization action in a large indoor environment, for the reduction of microbiological risk.

(test available in the library of www.iaq-ase.org)

 

– Test in situ

IAQ-ASE SA constantly requires the action of the devices used and already approved by means of tests performed by UNI-EN-ISO17025 accredited laboratories in international installation sites. These tests are led according to the method required by the UNI-EN 13098 standard and with the supervision of an inspector from the Bureau Veritas certification body.

(tests available in the library of www.iaq-ase.org)

 

As for the harmlessness:

The devices tested, approved and used in the regulatory framework specified above do not produce any chemical substances’ fumigation/nebulization or release – in the indoor air – being the precursor of the ambient air itself. The electrophysical action of the device is limited to ionizing a minimum part of the ambient air within the limits normally verified by a UNI-EN-ISO17025 accredited laboratory, without producing harmful by-products and/or hazardous residues such as ozone or formaldehyde.

(tests available in the library of www.iaq-ase.org)

 

The tests and certifications of efficacy and harmlessness of the devices adopted are published in the library of www.iaq-ase.org

 

The verifications required from the manufacturers of the devices are as follows:

• Verification of compliance with OSHA (Occupational Health & Safety Administration) limits
• Verification of compliance with ECHA (European Chemistry Administration) limits

 

The certificates obtained on the tested and approved devices are the following:

• UNI-EN-ISO17025 accredited laboratory certificate according to which the device constantly performs its action within the TLV-TWA limits
• UNI-EN-ISO17025 accredited laboratory certificate according to which the device performs its action without generating products and by-products harmful to health such as ozone
• UNI-EN-ISO17025 accredited laboratory certificate according to which the device performs its action by also breaking down formaldehyde
• ECAS-ROHS Certificate of Conformity (The EU ROHS Directive provides for restrictions on the use of certain hazardous substances in various categories of electrical and electronic equipment and has been in force since June 2006. The restrictions on maximum concentrations of hazardous substances are in line with the requirements of the third revision of the RoHS Directive 2015/863 / EU)

 

      WHAT IS THE RELIABLE “RESULT” WITH CONTINUED ACTIVE SANITIZATION®?

The reliable result consists in breaking down the levels of total bacterial load (psychrophilic and mesophilic) and total fungal load (moulds and yeasts) detected by an accredited laboratory indoors according to the UNI-EN 13098 standard, in compliance with the IMA * indices.

The correct application of the CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® protocol performed by trained and qualified IAQ-ASE® professionals allows this result to be obtained, according to test reports from laboratories accredited and validated by the certification body Bureau Veritas.

The correct application of the CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® protocol performed by trained and qualified IAQ-ASE® professionals allows people to carry out normal activities simultaneously with the action of sanitizing the air and, by relapse, also of the surfaces in the environment. This sanitizing action is carried out directly at the sources of contamination when they occur in the considered environment.

* ITALY – IMA AIR QUALITY INDICES

In Italy for microbiological monitoring in the workplace, and in the face of the current unavailability of official guidelines to counter

biological risk, the INAIL Guidelines have been published (CONTARP Guidelines Ed. 2010).

These Guidelines take into consideration the IMA indices (Microbiological Air Indices) which, in the absence of officially enacted regulations, are considered as possible reference indices of indoor air quality, as specified by these same Guidelines of the INAIL also with the indication of limit values ​​in relation to risk classes

(this document is easily available online and is published on the website www.iaq-ase.org)

 

 

   CONDITIONS OF THE RESULT

The correct application of the CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® protocol performed by trained and qualified IAQ-ASE® professionals efficiently and effectively counteracts environmental microbiological pathogens in real situations of use in compliance with the following conditions:

1. Feasibility after evaluation carried out by experts of the environments and of any air treatment systems present in loco. In too dry environments or in the presence of air flows with too high speed, the sanitizing action is reduced.
2. Correct design of the sanitation system, consisting of one or more devices, suited to the needs and Intended use of the considered environments;
3. Perfect installation and maintenance of the sanitation system
4. Monitoring:

• 24-hour continuous operation of the installed devices, with remote control in order to check their efficiency and receive any malfunction alarms;
• periodic of the IMA indices * through sampling and laboratory analysis of the air in real conditions of use according to ISO EN UNI standards with the supervision of the inspectors of the Bureau Veritas certification body in order to verify their effectiveness.

 

Full compliance with the four conditions listed above allows the tested devices to adequately perform the expected action and to obtain the “result” of CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION® which has been described above in its reliable effects.

 

TIME LIMITS

The effects of the guarantee of the IAQ-ASE® certificate are subject to time limits related to the need to re-check periodically the conditions of effectiveness and efficiency of the “CONTINUOUS ACTIVE SANITIZATION®” protocol.

 

For these reasons, the IAQ-ASE® certificate is subject to an annual expiry and can be renewed by re-checking the four conditions referred to in the previous point with this frequency.

 

 

 

Key:

IMA *                                                                          Microbiological Indices of Air

Certificate                                              IAQ-ASE = Indoor Air Quality – Active Sanitizing Environment Professional                                             IAQ-ASE = Indoor Air Quality – Active Sanitization Expert