The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) has collaborated with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) to develop a mobile app that helps individuals find solutions to indoor air quality problems in their workplace.

The app, AirAssess – Improve Indoor Air Quality at Work, provides users with a questionnaire that answers simple questions about their current work conditions, such as workplace stress levels, allergies and environment factors.

The answers to these questions provide key information to help uncover issues which may be related to the air quality in the workplace. Once the questionnaire is answered, the app will look for links and provide users with ideas to help their workplace take action on possible air quality concerns.

All jurisdictions in Canada include the ‘general duty clause,’ which requires employers to provide a healthy and safe workplace. This includes the provision of healthy indoor air. In addition, indoor air quality is implied in most building codes as design and operation criteria.

“OHCOW has been successfully using an Indoor Climate survey since 1993 in over 120 buildings,” noted Valerie Wolfe, executive director, south central region, at OHCOW. “Now, as a result of our valuable partnership with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, we are very pleased to be launching an app version of this validated survey.”

The free app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, BlackBerry World, and Google Play, as well as from both the OHCOW and CCOHS websites.