Risk, Accessibility, and the Right to Safe Air: A Conversation with Plum Stone

This week, we sit down with Plum Stone, founder and CEO of the Safer Air Project, to explore a question that fundamentally challenges how we think about indoor air quality and accessibility: What if the single biggest barrier to transforming indoor air quality isn't our lack of scientific knowledge or technology—but our complete failure to recognise that millions of people living with chronic health conditions face invisible barriers to accessing public spaces every single day, and that fixing air quality for the most vulnerable fixes it for everyone Key Topics Discussed: The Lived Experience of Poor Air Quality: For people living with chronic health conditions, poor air quality is not an abstract future risk. It is a daily, immediate barrier to participation in public life. For someone with a compromised immune system, an underventilated classroom or meeting room can mean a week of illness, hospitalisation, or worse. For their families, it means constant vigilance, isolation, and the burden of protecting themselves when policymakers and building operators fail to act. This is not just a health issue. It is an accessibility issue. And yet, unlike wheelchair ramps or hearing loops, air quality remains invisible, unregulated, and largely ignored. Prevention as the Biggest Lever: Whilst the Safer Air Project started by advocating for people with existing chronic health conditions, Plum has come to see air quality as the single biggest lever we have to prevent chronic disease in the first place. Cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia, asthma, and long term respiratory conditions are all driven by exposure to poor air quality. If we can push down on air pollution and airborne infection transmission, we give ourselves a real head start on prevention. This is not just about protecting the vulnerable. It is about reducing the growing burden of chronic disease on society and freeing up resources to invest in health, not just treat illness. Making the Invisible Visible: The first step to solving any problem is measuring it. The Safer Air Project is running a global campaign called Making the Invisible Visible, asking organisations to monitor air quality in public spaces and display that information transparently. If you are not measuring it, you are not managing it. And if you are not making it visible, people cannot make informed decisions about their safety. The campaign is simple. Monitor your air quality. Display your air quality. Commit to transparency. This is not just about CO2 numbers. It is about giving people the information they need to assess risk in real time, whether that is a vulnerable person deciding whether to enter a space, or a facilities manager realising their ventilation system is not performing as it should. The Role of Unions and Workplace Safety: Unions have been at the forefront of workplace safety for centuries, yet they have been almost entirely absent from the air quality conversation. That is starting to change. The Australian Council of Trade Unions has been a strong advocate, recognising that air quality is a workplace health and safety issue. Employers have a responsibility to provide safe working environments. That includes the air employees breathe. The new Model Code of Practice for the Control of Biological Hazards in the Workplace recognises biological hazards that transmit through the air. This is a huge step forward. But enforcement and implementation remain the challenge. Unions have the power to demand safe air for workers. And when you fix air quality for workers, you fix it for students, patients, and the public. GUEST: Plum Stone Founder and CEO, Safer Air Project https://www.saferairproject.org/ The Air Quality Matters Podcast in Partnership with Mann + Hummel https://www.mann-hummel.com/en.html Particles Plus https://particlesplus.com/ Eurovent (https://www.eurovent.eu/) - Aico (https://www.aico.co.uk/) - Lindab (https://www.lindab.ie/) - S&P UK (https://www.solerpalau.com/en-uk/) The One Take Podcast in Partnership with SafeTraces (https://www.safetraces.com/) - Inbiot (https://www.inbiot.es/?utm_campaign=simon&utm_source=airqualitymatters&utm_medium=podcast) - Farmwood (https://farmwood.co.uk/) - iE Electronics (https://www.eielectronics.ie/) and iAir Group (https://iair-group.com/) Zehnder https://www.zehndergroup.com/en Charity Partner - https://www.saferairproject.org/