The need for good ventilation in modern labs

The importance of good air freshening and solid ventilation systems has only grown since the corona crisis. This certainly also applies to laboratories. Paul van Dam from the Kuijpers company gave a lecture on this subject during LabSafety (May 10, 2022). We spoke to his colleague Paul Joosten about this.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

In his daily work, Paul Joosten is closely involved in supplying ventilation systems for specialist environments at Kuijpers, as he explains: “At Kuipers, I am responsible for everything in the life sciences and high-tech market segments. We used to call that controlled environments. That involves clean rooms and containment, including laboratories. We design and build these types of facilities. We also do the maintenance.”

In addition, Joosten is also affiliated with the VCCN, a platform for professionals working in contamination control, as he explains: “I am a board member of the VCCN. There are many technical challenges, especially in high containment facilities, such as Biosafety Level 3 or BSL 4 labs.”

He continues: “Ventilation is already important in laboratories. And ventilation has become an increasingly important issue in recent years, especially since the corona crisis began. Ultimately, ventilation ensures that the air is flushed. So also for removing contamination.”

And also from a public health perspective, good ventilation can be raised to a higher level: “The importance of good ventilation is now increasingly being recognized by the government and all kinds of agencies. I do think that a clearer position should be taken on which type of ventilation is better. So as a sector, you need to better communicate how much ventilation you need, for example.”

In Joosten's view, good ventilation is absolutely essential for labs: "The ventilation in labs simply has to be better. But the building code has still not been adapted to the latest developments. So there is still a lot to be gained there. Because with ventilation you can say: unknown makes unloved. The systems are in the ceiling, you don't see them and that makes the subject not so exciting for many people."

During his lecture, Van Dam emphasized again that good ventilation is necessary in almost every indoor location, and certainly in a lab.