Preserving Air Quality: The Vitality of VHRA and Duct Cleaning

What are VHRA?

VHRA, which stands for Ventilation Hygiene Risk Assessments, are a precautionary measure  put in place to ensure that the ventilation systems installed in various companies and residencies are working properly and are producing a safe quality of air. Maintenance checks are scheduled and reports are produced to indicate whether companies are complying with the legislation and correct maintenance that ventilation ducts require. These maintenance checks and reports also give a regular and clear indication of how well the ducts are working and the quality of air that they are producing.

Sections of the report include:

 Plant Survey Data

 Ventilation System Photographic Evidence

 Deposit Thickness Testing

 Surface Microbiological Sampling

An additional process that is put in place is the After Cleaning Report, this gives a clear indication of how effective regular Ventilation Ductwork Cleaning is and gives a referral point to how clean your ventilation systems should be.

Why you need to clean your ventilation ducts:

It is extremely important for you to clean your ventilation ducts, as over time various types of contamination will accumulate that can compromise the air quality that is distributed by the systems. Under the Health and Safety Act 1974, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) dictates that restaurants and various other work environments require mandatory duct cleaning to ensure that ventilation ducts are producing good quality air, which in turn ensures the safety of employees.

How often should you be checking your ventilation ducts:

The recommended minimum regular inspection intervals for ventilation ducts depends on the System Quality Class (SQL). For the low quality SQL it is recommended that ducts should be checked every 48 months, for medium SQL ventilation ducts should be checked every 24 months and for high quality SQL the ventilation ducts should be checked every 12 months. If you suspect that there is an issue with your Ventilation Ducts and the quality of air that they are producing, then it is extremely important to initiate a maintenance check prior to any existing scheduled checks. This will ensure that the problem can be located and fixed so that they health of the building users is not compromised.