Notice Boards are often at the heart of offices, schools and other working environments creating hubs for notices, work and other important documents. Whilst acoustic panels are, practically speaking, ideal for use as notice boards little has been researched into the safety of using sound absorbers as display panels.
When pins are used on acoustic panels, a tiny amount of glass wool can potentially be omitted into the surrounding atmosphere – too much of this could be dangerous to room users. Particular concern could be raised in schools, pre-schools and offices where students or employees could come into daily contact with glass wool emissions.
Ecophon have directly addressed any concerns of using their wall panel products as notice boards by undertaking direct research with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The findings have been nothing short of reassuring. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland states that in public buildings no more than 0.2 fibres per square centimetre should be omitted during a two week period after pins are stuck into the board up to 12,000 times. Ecophon panels were found to omit 0.14 fibres per square centimetre – well below VTT guidelines. Off the back of this the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health have concluded that Ecophon wall panels are safe to use as notice boards. The Institute also declared that the appearance of the panels did not deteriorate as a result of the testing. And finally, Akusto Wall Panel C was also granted the allergy label of the Finnish Allergy and Asthma Federation.
Good news for Ecophon and great for us – another selling point for Ecophon’s fantastic wall panel products.
