Corporate Social Responsibility and Hyperlocal Air Quality Monitoring
The world is becoming increasingly urbanized and corporate employees are exposed to dangerous levels of ambient air pollution on their commute, in their place of work and in their place of rest throughout the work day. As a part of corporate social responsibility companies have obligation to protect their employees as well as the environment around their operations.
Each generation breathes in slightly different air and each population also breathes in slightly different air. In fact, the air you breathe can be different depending on which side of the road you are on, even on which floor of the office block you are sat. So, in a sense, your life is recorded in your lungs and in your body; it can suggest where you’ve been, how old you are and even what side of town you lived in. Now, if you think as the years go by the air is getting cleaner, think again… globally, air pollution is, in fact, getting worse. In fact, by 2060, ambient air pollution is forecast to cause the deaths of 6 to 9 million people every year [1]. So, what does this have to do with hyperlocal air quality monitoring?
Well, the air in many modern cities might look clean enough, but the problem is: most pollutants simply cannot be seen, and each generation faces new threats. Take lead for example. If you are over 50, chances are you will have spent most of your early life directly up breathing it in, and no, that is not because it is naturally found in air. On the contrary: it was deliberately put there. That is right, back around 75 years ago, some of the world’s biggest corporations decided to add it to gasoline. Why? Well, as an additive; it boosts performance, so of course, it also boosted profits. But as we all know, lead is toxic, so, as a decision, it ranks highly in terms of corporate social irresponsibility.
Today, the pollutants have changed form, and hopefully, so too have corporations. Instead of the environment (and therefore us) suffering from externalities of business operations, there is now a growing integration of social and environmental considerations into corporate management, so called corporate social responsibility (CSR). Stakeholder theory is a key concept that guides CSR. Stakeholders are “any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives” [2]… In other words, everybody in an organization. In fact, everybody in society.
The air we breathe is not just a health issue. It also affects the bottom line. So, it increasingly makes sense for companies to monitor the health and well-being of their employees. Real-time, hyperlocal air quality monitoring enables all companies to monitor the air their employees breathe and provide transparency and accountability in an area of increasing concern for both corporations and society.
The importance is clear: the world is becoming increasingly urbanized and employees are exposed to dangerous levels of ambient air pollution on their commute, in their place of work and in their place of rest between shifts. In China, where it has been estimated that only 1% of city-dwellers breathe ‘safe’ air [3], around 1.6 million people are said to die from air pollution every year [4]. A recent study [5] demonstrated that the workplace has a crucial impact on people’s overall health (both mental and physical) and poor air quality is made worse by the unknown, i.e., employees not knowing the condition of the air, and therefore how to self-manage their exposure.
Providing employees with air pollution data can produce both physiological and psychological benefits. For example, organizations can allow employees to plan their commute or even when to take their lunch break. Employees that can proactively manage their air pollution exposure feel engaged and part of a collective effort. It means they can better cope with stress, feel empowered to help the organization appraise and manage air pollution and become not only more productive employees, but healthier and happier citizens.
Air pollution deaths are estimated to cost the global economy over US$225 billion a year [6] and at-work air pollution related to breathing polluted urban air increases the risk of suffering a range of expensive and debilitating long-term illnesses such as pneumonia and lung cancer and illnesses such as respiratory problems and headaches in the short-term [7]. Luckily, businesses big and small now have technologically advanced, yet low-cost and easily-maintained, hyperlocal air pollution monitoring equipment at their disposal. Companies that utilize these breakthroughs demonstrate a commitment to CSR and not just the health of their employees, but to sustainability on local, national and even global scales.
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References
[1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(16)30023-8/fulltext
[2] Freeman, 1984, p.46 (Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA: Pitman Publishing.) see: Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA: Pitman Publishing.
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html
[4] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35568249
[5] Fehr et al. (2017) ‘Polluted work: A self-control perspective on air pollution appraisals, organizational citizenship, and counterproductive work behavior’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Elsevier Inc., 143, pp. 98–110. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2017.02.002.
[7] Lukcso, D. et al. (2015) ‘Indoor environmental and air quality characteristics, building-related health symptoms, and worker productivity in a federal government building complex’, Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health. Taylor & Francis, 71(2), pp. 1–17. doi: 10.1080/19338244.2014.965246.
