Why is environmental monitoring important?

In particular, equipment that is used should be reliable, but they may be vulnerable to environmental variables that may affect their functionality, therefore impacting overall business efficiency. To prevent this, companies should consider environmental monitoring as a solution for avoiding the consequences of malfunctioning equipment due to environmental reasons, as well as to minimise the effect the firm’s operations may have on the environment. 

What is environmental monitoring?

Environmental monitoring refers to tools that assess and monitor environmental factors such as air quality, humidity, temperature, and others, using sensors. When these sensors detect an abnormal change in the environment, a notification can be sent to the business, allowing the business to respond quickly and appropriately. 

Why is it important?

Here are a few reasons why environmental monitoring is important:

• Reducing equipment/inventory loss – businesses especially profit from environmental monitoring as it enables them to deal with any environmental issues affecting machinery and equipment that may disrupt business operations as early as possible. Any inventory or stock that is stored within the facility can also be saved should, for instance, freezers or refrigerator temperatures start to rise. As a result, it can prove to be a cost-effective approach for companies as they do not have to buy new equipment or inventory.
• Reducing data loss – for facilities that have an IT infrastructure that operations rely on, enforcing environmental monitoring can help to reduce any data loss as a result of malfunctioning equipment.
• Prioritising the wellbeing of employees – employees may lose focus and thus have decreased productivity due to environmental changes like high temperatures or a very humid room. The health and safety of your employees should be prioritised and with environmental monitoring, you are able to check temperatures and humidity so you can control it and ensure that the workplace is safe for your employees to work in. This is also applicable in the case of customers or patients in the hospitality and healthcare sectors.
• Minimise impact on environment – by being provided with environmental insights, including energy, businesses can be more conscious about their impact on the environment, and work towards ways to minimise their effects.

To make productive use of environmental monitoring, implementing an environment monitoring system is the wisest solution. These systems consist of a range of environmental monitoring sensors such as airflow, air quality, smoke, humidity, temperature, water leakage, and even security. 

You’ve installed a system – now what?

Research has found that how a firm does environmental monitoring is the most important part – not how much monitoring you do. If you are a business owner, how you respond and how you allow your employees to respond to information collected by monitoring systems is crucial in how your business will fare in the long-run. 

Nevertheless, a vital thing to remember is that you should not let the system be the only sole entity monitoring the environment – you should encourage manual monitoring as well such as daily temperature checks to promote a workplace culture that actively thinks about environmental factors.