MFDs, ventilation & H&S

[haci]

Morning All

 

Kinda not sure where this one should go so apologies if in wrong section.

Have been asked to move a number of MFDs into a room with no ventilation other than a small window.

 

Can anyone point me in the direction of useful guidance on the health and safety aspects IE temperature air quality/particles etc.

or would you just advise someone to go to the provider Konica Minolta in our case.

 

Have tried googling and can't really seem to find much in the way of solid advice on it and I would argue its not even my remit as a lowly tech but here we are  any and all advice welcome.

 

Cheers

[synaesthesia]

Toner particles are quite nasty in volume. One device in a room you can get away with as long as it's ventilated and not used by other people all the time (like a small office).

Multiple devices = straight no. It would need active ventilation at the very least.

[Rob_D]

This is the best (or at least clearest) I've seen is 25l of extraction per square-meter of floor space, or 3.75 room air changes per hour from xerox.

https://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/e/ehs_FactsaboutVentilation.pdf

 

And this has some good technical information (although less clear on advice)

https://www.ohsrep.org.au/office_hazards_photocopiers_printers_etc#

 

HS aside, running hot and dusty isn't going to be good for the printers either.

 

[psydii]

Overview - Ventilation in the workplace

BB 101: Ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality 2018 - GOV.UK

[dhicks]

1 hour ago, haci said:

Have been asked to move a number of MFDs into a room with no ventilation other than a small window.

 

That does rather imply the room is on an external wall, in which case an active air filter / cooler / heater venting outside might be an option.

[psydii]

Rooms containing printers and photocopiers in substantial use (greater than 30  minutes per hour):

 

Air extract rate of 20 l/s per machine during use is required to eliminate pollutants. Air must be exhausted outside the building. If located in a separate room, it must be ventilated at the rate of 10 l/s/person when occupied as for an office. These rates are those given in AD F.

 

Cooling is required to larger reprographics machinery often found in schools, (eg with heat loads of around 2 kW in use) where its use is intensive and it is located in a small room. This is due to the high heat loads produced which cannot be dealt with by extract ventilation. An alternative is to locate the machines in a circulation space, if there are no noise sensitive activities taking place in the circulation area, where the heat can dissipate.

 

Photocopiers are often fitted with active carbon filters which limit ozone emissions. Some of these are sealed for life and others require maintenance. Information about the maintenance of photocopiers can be found in Local Authority Circular: LAC 90/2 54.

[6Foot2]

We were (eventually) allowed to move our reprographics colleague from her TINY office with 3 MFDs into our office (that was next door to hers)

 

She was able to do all her work remotely from her new location, only going in to fill paper bins, change toner cartridges, or pick up printed work.

 

It was so frustrating that management couldn't/wouldn't see/hear the point we were making.

 

[psydii]

See also this thread: 

 

[3s-gtech]

When ours are used without the fans on (despite the signs saying not to) and windows open they absolutely stink - ozone gives a chlorine-like smell, and you can smell the toner dust too.

 

The guidance above is what you need. No-one should be working in the same small room as MFDs that are working all day IMO.

[haci]

Thanks everyone really helpful ❤️