A city like Lagos can benefit immensely in leveraging the internet of things (IoT) to tackle air pollution and improve productivity in workers.
Melanie Ayoola, Executive Director of IoT Africa Networks Limited said this at a Webinar tagged “Quality Air & Covid 19: How to improve productivity and safety using IoT”.
Lagos is one of the world’s fastest-growing megacities, serving as Nigeria’s economic hub. This rapid expansion has resulted in pollution, unhealthy air, and a high prevalence of illness and untimely deaths. According to a recent World Bank study in 2018, air pollution, disease, and early deaths in Lagos caused by ambient air pollution cost about $2.1 billion, accounting for nearly 2.1 percent of Lagos State GDP.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also been a global cause for concern. Researchers found out that there is a relationship between the quality of air and the transmission of the virus. It was discovered that exposure to hazardous air increases the death rate among Covid-19 patients by 9 percent. The pollutants cause respiratory stress, thereby increasing vulnerability to the virus and death rate.
Read also: World Bank, AU team up to fast-track COVID-19 vaccines delivery to 400m Africans
Experts at the webinar raised awareness about the importance of IoT Air quality and Space Monitoring using the Internet of Things (IoT) in the everyday lives of Nigerians, as well as the corporate, industrial, and manufacturing sectors. The purpose was to show how air quality affects workplace health, safety, and productivity. It also emphasized the link between air quality and the spread of the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus.
During the webinar, Ayoola outlined the importance of air quality as it relates to daily productivity. In her presentation, she highlighted how remote work and other corporate workplace perks such as bonus packages and fantastic reward schemes could be undermined by the unavailability of quality air.
“It could all be less effective in providing a motivated and driven workforce, if the air, the basic natural resource we need to live, is not good enough to sustain the body’s engine,” Ayoola said.
Tom Lindblad, Founder of Connected Finland, was on hand to provide additional insights on the topic – Seeing The Invisible: How Connected Inventions can help to Monitor and Provide Covid-Safe Indoor Quality Air Around You. He explained how Carbon Monoxide (CO2) levels rise when there is less fresh air, causing headaches, restlessness, drowsiness, and other symptoms. Increased levels have been related to decreased productivity, increased sick leave, and the spread of infectious diseases, making this a serious issue in the office, school, and at home.
The third speaker, Maija Patjas, the head of International Relations at Rapal, described how optimized workspaces can create a better work environment and lead to higher efficiency levels among company staff. Maija spoke about how managing hybrid work is making it difficult to optimize space layouts. She highlighted how the way we working is changing from an individual-based system into a social, collaborative use of space, with more focus on how employees feel about the environment, and how they can use a more flexible environment to be more productive. She also explained how improved productivity and collaboration, better satisfaction, better indoor comfort, reduced real estate costs, and energy savings can all be achieved when organizations integrate Smart Space Monitoring.
The IoT Air quality & Space Monitoring Webinar was another insightful event in a series of events held by IoT Africa Networks Limited (A Tranter IT Company). The organization hopes to help Nigerians in several sectors become more efficient, safe, and productive using the Internet of Things.
