Dubai, UAE, 19 September 2018: Indoor environment quality (IEQ) is slowly getting traction across all sectors in the Middle East, said Giorgio Elia, Vice President, UTC CCS Middle East. Outlining factors that contributed to its steady uptake, Elia said that, firstly, in the region, people spend 90% of their time indoors. Secondly there is also growing awareness on IEQ’s impact on health, in the form of asthma and other respiratory diseases, eye and nose irritations, headaches, dizziness and fatigue. Lastly, Elia said that IEQ has gained more importance due to the tighter building construction and reduced levels of outside air brought inside for energy conservation.

Touching on what the company is doing in view of emerging trends, Elia said that in support of the targets set by the National Agenda and the Dubai Health Strategy, Carrier’s factory in Saudi Arabia, SAMCO, recently developed and launched hygienic air handling units (AHUs) with integrated control panels in order to have self-contained systems. “In order to help maintain the air quality index, as stated in the UAE Vision 2021 National Agenda, all filtration in SAMCO air conditioning systems meet national and international norms,” he said. “According to the Dubai Health Strategy, these external certifications will help the licensing standards for healthcare services and products. Saudi Arabia has pushed for a healthy local urban environment and reductions in public health incidences through the ‘National Transformation Program and Vision 2030’. Beyond meeting hygiene standards, the certifications also reflect a robust design, demonstrate the quality of products ensuring high confidence levels and testify to a standard of reliability.”

Elia said, while good products with hygienic features and integrated control panels are important, proper use of equipment by healthcare providers is also vital. “Continuously updated training programmes, provided regularly by SAMCO and Carrier throughout the region, help to facilitate this,” he said. “Carrier is working with healthcare providers and proposing solutions with a focus on hygiene. This will ensure regional high air quality and indoor environmental quality goals are met, especially by healthcare providers.”

Hannah Jo Uy is Assistant Editor at Climate Control Middle East magazine. She may be contacted at hannah@cpi-industry.com