Office air quality is often treated as a comfort issue, but it directly affects output on the factory floor. Dust migrating into admin spaces reduces concentration, increases sickness absence, and spreads contamination back to production. A small investment in control measures typically returns more focused planning, fewer errors, and smoother shifts.

How dust moves from production to offices

Air follows the easiest path. Open doors, shared corridors, lift shafts and service penetrations carry airborne particulate from production into occupied offices. Foot traffic transfers dust on clothing and paperwork. Once inside, normal office activity re-agitates settled dust, keeping PM2.5 and PM10 levels elevated throughout the day.

Practical controls to put in place

• Create clear pressure relationships: aim for slight negative pressure in dusty production areas and neutral to slightly positive pressure in offices. Check with a simple tissue test or a low-cost manometer.
• Close the gaps: fit self-closing mechanisms, door sweeps, and seal cable penetrations. Add a short lobby where doors must stay open for materials handling.
• Manage traffic: designate clean routes, provide coat hooks and storage so workwear is not parked on office chairs, and use sticky mats at transitional doorways.
• Clean without re-suspending: avoid sweeping and compressed air. Use M-Class or H-Class industrial vacuums with H13/H14 filtration for daily housekeeping.
• Treat air in shared corridors: continuous air cleaning reduces background particulate. Office air purifiers, such as MAXVAC units, can support HEPA-grade filtration where ducted solutions are impractical.
• Service extraction at source: well-tuned LEV and on-tool extraction reduce what escapes production in the first place.

Targets and assurance

Agree a PM2.5/PM10 baseline for offices and trend it over time with a particulate monitor. Keep communication simple: a weekly snapshot with actions taken builds trust. For context, HSE’s WEL for respirable crystalline silica is 0.1 mg/m³ in the workplace; offices should trend far below occupational limits and aim for steady, clean air day to day.

Combining pressure control, sealed routes, disciplined housekeeping, and targeted air purification typically delivers quieter, cleaner offices and a measurable lift in planning accuracy and throughput.