People sat around a meeting table in a modern office
People sat around a meeting table in a modern office

IoT and Displays for Healthy Offices – Making the Invisible, Visible!

30 September 2021

As COVID restrictions ease in the UK, businesses are looking to get their staff back into the office. To work together as (non-Microsoft) teams.

While this might be great news for some, there is a fear that the offices they once enjoyed working in could be hazardous to their health and, subsequently, the well-being of their family when they return home.

How do businesses provide their colleagues and those who frequent their offices with the confidence they need to know that the invisible air – the internal conditions within the office – are safe to enter and are not a pollutant?

Improving indoor air quality is key to stopping the spread of COVID-19. The role of IoT and digital platforms like our CODA device will be critical to managing internal air quality (IAQ) and wellness.

Building confidence is critical – IoT solutions complete with digital displays are the answer.

IoT works like magic to turn invisible air quality into visible insights:

  • Installing an array of IoT sensors throughout the building and in communal areas or closed meeting room spaces that transmit data from the site to the cloud in real-time. This data is then processed through a series of algorithms in the CODA platform to deliver insights which are then graphically displayed on PCs, display screens and apps. The easily accessible visible data can be viewed by the building occupier, employee or visitor and report on the quality of the indoor air.
  • Any alerts that show poor indoor air quality will allow building operators to increase ventilation flow or request colleagues to open windows and doors for a few minutes to let the internal air change over and the quality improve. These simple tasks are undertaken based on the data the IoT sensors and CODA’s dashboard delivers. The data then re-confirms the internal conditions are at healthy levels once again.

IoT provides the opportunity to see issues and therefore make changes. If we know that the internal air quality is poor, we can then take action to improve this, but we need insights. Insights from data that comes from in-building sensors.

IoT solutions like CODA deliver insights on internal conditions within the building by:

  • Considering temperature controls according to external conditions – no one wants to be too hot or too cold in a building when they are dressed for the time of year.
  • Creating safety around light levels during and post-occupancy.
  • Monitoring occupancy levels for comfort and people flow.
  • To reduce the spread of Covid-19 and its impact on building occupiers, IoT devices like CODA focus on:
  • Managing humidity and temperature levels to reduce the transmission of COVID-19
  • Delivering natural ventilation where possible – no more recirculation of air.
  • Ensure a constant trickle of airflow even when the building is unoccupied.
  • Sensor technology** delivering alerts that measure the increase in CO2 which infers an increased risk of viral transmission.
  • Temperature monitoring and alerts on entrance points to a building.

CODA can manage the building systems according to CIBSE guidelines to ensure the buildings are Covid-Secure and, through innovative software and dashboards, deliver insights into the impact on energy efficiency and identify other opportunities to reduce consumption and cost in post-Covid times. The software also validates the IAQ of the building, giving owners and occupiers peace of mind that the building is Covid-secure.

** Sensor technology must be compliant with the guidance from SAGE, CIBSE and the HSE which promote the usage of non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) CO2 air quality sensors. Other less accurate sensors should be avoided.


If you would like to know more about how CODA can help manage and alert on internal air quality and help make indoor spaces covid-secure, please get in touch with the team on email: info@codacloud.io or call us on 0345 241 2889.