A new study conducted by Henderson Building Solutions LLC has found that standard elevator cabin air filtration systems fail to remove the most dangerous airborne pathogens from inside the cabin, including those with the properties of COVID-19.

The study notes that standard elevator filtration consists only of ventilation fans that fail to filter out the fine and ultrafine particles that are the most dangerous to human health. The study also found that installing advanced air purification technology can remove 77-99 per cent of airborne contaminants from an elevator cabin’s air, with a mean particle reduction of 88 per cent.

The study measured the number of pollutants in elevator cabin air both with and without the installation of advanced air purification technology. The control cabin included a simple ventilation fan with a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) rating of 13. The other cabin was outfitted with ACTIVE Particle Control (APC) technology, which conditions harmful particles to bind together, making them more susceptible to air movement and allowing them to be easily filtered out. The results found that the use of APC caused significant reductions in particle mass, indicating that using such systems can reduce exposure to particulate pollutants and also reduce airborne transmission of viral or bacterial disease between elevator passengers.

The U.S. CDC notes that the confined space inside an elevator cabin creates a greater risk for the transmission of diseases, and recommends that office buildings add supplemental air ventilation or local air treatment devices to cabins to protect riders from COVID-19.

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On average, each of the 1.03 million elevators in America moves 20,000 people per year, according to the National Elevator Industry Inc., a U.S. trade association.