Newest Health Hazard ?

The printer in your office may be the newest health hazard. The International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health at Australia's Queensland University of Technology did a study that finds the air quality may be affected by your choice of office printers.

The study looked at particulates and emissions and found that only 60% of the 62 printers assessed were 'nonemitting'

Researchers were looking for what is known as PM 2.5 or fine particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. These are so tiny and said to pose the greatest health risk as they can lodge deeply into the lungs.

Those considered 'high emitting' include several Hewlett Packard printers and one made by Tshiba.

To reduce the risk, researchers suggest ensuring that offices are well ventilated to allow airborne particles to disperse.

Source: Osha Compliance advisor

Technology Impacts Real Estate and the Workplace

The changing nature of how and where people work is transforming corporate real estate. Nearly 40% of employers expect their knowledge workers - those who contribute intellectually to a business, rather than manually - to work remotely by 2010.

Advancing technologies that allow workers to accomplish tasks from anywhere has spurred major employers to rethink the real estate paradigm. Many companies feel that a majority of their infrastructure that supports mobility.

As an example, Sun Microsystems, needed a solution to a slowing work product problem as a result of heavy traffic tie-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area. This was remedied by creating a network of small "drop-in centers" enabling employees to work from various accessible locations.

Employees simply log in at remote work kiosks. Incoming phone calls are routed from a main call center to their temporary workstation.

This new multi-office system has eliminated 7,000 workstations. One employee station now serves 1.5 employees. This has resulted in a reduction of about 1 million, saving $71 million in excess real estate costs in the last year.

(Source: National Real Estate Investor)