scholarly journals Exposure to Wildfire Smoke and Particulate Matter among Washington State Construction Workers; Potential Impacts and Implications for Worker Protection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Zuidema ◽  
Elena Austin ◽  
Martin A. Cohen ◽  
Edward Kasner ◽  
Lilian Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Wildfire Smoke ◽  
Outdoor Workers

Driven by climate change, wildfires are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity across the Western United States. Outdoor workers are being exposed to increasing wildfire-related particulate matter and smoke. Recognizing this emerging risk, Washington adopted an emergency rule and is presently engaged in creating a permanent rule to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke exposure. While there are growing bodies of literature on the exposure to and health effects of wildfire smoke in the general public and wildland firefighters, there is a gap in knowledge about wildfire smoke exposure among outdoor workers generally, and construction workers specifically, a large category of outdoor workers in Washington totaling 200,000 people. In this study, we link several data sources including state-collected employment data and national ambient air quality data to gain insight into the risk of wildfire exposure among construction workers in Washington. Our results indicate the number of poor air quality days has increased in August and September in recent years. We also observed that over the last decade these months with the greatest potential for wildfire smoke exposure coincide with an annual peak in construction employment that was typically 9.4 to 42.7% larger across Washington counties (one county was 75.8%). Lastly, we considered different air quality thresholds and retrospectively tallied days in Washington that would have triggered rules protecting workers from wildfire smoke. We found the "encouraged" threshold of the Washington emergency rule (20.5 μg/m3) would result in 5.5 times more days subject to the wildfire rule on average across all Washington counties compared to its "required" threshold (55.5 μg/m3), and in 2020 the rule could have created demand for 1.35 million N-95 filtering facepiece respirators among construction workers. These results have important implications for both employers and policy makers as rules are developed. We also discuss the potential economic and policy implications of wildfire smoke exposure, exposure control strategies, and data gaps that would improve our understanding of construction worker exposure to wildfire smoke.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of SOx, NOx, and Primary Particulate Matter Control Strategies in the Improvement of Ambient PM Concentration in Taiwan

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 460
Author(s):  
Jiun-Horng Tsai ◽  
Ming-Ye Lee ◽  
Hung-Lung Chiang
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Control Plan ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Pm2.5 Concentration

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) measurement was employed for evaluating the effectiveness of fine particulate matter control strategies in Taiwan. There are three scenarios as follows: (I) the 2014 baseline year emission, (II) 2020 emissions reduced via the Clean Air Act (CAA), and (III) other emissions reduced stringently via the Clean Air Act. Based on the Taiwan Emission Data System (TEDs) 8.1, established in 2014, the emission of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) was 73.5 thousand tons y−1, that of SOx was 121.3 thousand tons y−1, and that of NOx was 404.4 thousand tons y−1 in Taiwan. The CMAQ model simulation indicated that the PM2.5 concentration was 21.9 μg m−3. This could be underestimated by 24% in comparison with data from the ambient air quality monitoring stations of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA). The results of the simulation of the PM2.5 concentration showed high PM2.5 concentrations in central and southwestern Taiwan, especially in Taichung and Kaohsiung. Compared to scenario I, the average annual concentrations of PM2.5 for scenario II and scenario III showed reductions of 20.1% and 28.8%, respectively. From the results derived from the simulation, it can be seen that control of NOx emissions may improve daily airborne PM2.5 concentrations in Taiwan significantly and control of directly emitted PM2.5 emissions may improve airborne PM2.5 concentrations each month. Nevertheless, the results reveal that the preliminary control plan could not achievethe air quality standard. Therefore, the efficacy and effectiveness of the control measures must be considered to better reduce emissions in the future.

scholarly journals Quantification of secondary organic aerosol in an Australian urban location

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melita Keywood ◽  
Helen Guyes ◽  
Paul Selleck ◽  
Rob Gillett
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Elemental Carbon ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Combustion Source ◽  
First Time

Environmental contextParticulate matter is detrimental to human health necessitating air quality standards to ensure that populations are not exposed to harmful levels of air pollutants. We quantified, for the first time in an Australian city, secondary organic aerosol produced in the atmosphere by chemical reactions, and show that it constitutes a significant fraction of the fine particulate matter. Secondary organic aerosol should be considered in regulations to control particulate matter and ozone. AbstractThe contribution of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) to particulate mass (PM) in an Australian urban airshed is quantified for the first time in this work. SOA is estimated indirectly using the elemental carbon tracer method. The contribution of primary organic carbon (OC) to PM is determined using ambient air quality data, which is used to indicate photochemical activity and as a tracer for a general vehicular combustion source. In addition, levoglucosan concentrations were used to determine the contribution of wood heater emissions to primary OC. The contribution of bushfire smoke to primary OC emissions was determined from the organic and elemental carbon (OC/EC) ratios measured in bushfire source samples. The median annual SOA concentration determined in this work was 1.1 µg m–3, representing ~13% of PM2.5 median concentrations on an annual basis (assuming a ratio of organic mass (OM) to OC of 1.6). Significantly higher SOA concentrations were determined when bushfire smoke affected the airshed; however, the SOA fraction of PM2.5 was greatest during the autumn and early winter months when the formation of inversions allows build up of particles produced by domestic wood-heater emissions.

scholarly journals Trend of Particulate Matter PM 2.5 and PM 10 in Dhaka City

1970 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
MA Rouf ◽  
M Nasiruddin ◽  
AMS Hossain ◽  
MS Islam
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Dhaka City ◽  
Monsoon Period ◽  
Pm 2.5 ◽  
Pm 10

Dhaka City has been affecting with severe air pollution particularly by particulate matter. The ambient air quality data for particulate matter were collected during April 2002 to September 2005 at the Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAMS) located at Sangshad Bhaban, Dhaka. Data reveal that the pollution from particulate matter greatly varies with climatic condition. While the level comes down the limit value in the monsoon period (April-October), it goes beyond the limit during non-monsoon time (November-March). The latest data show that during monsoon period PM 10 concentration varies from 50 μg/m3 to 80 μg/m3 and PM 2.5 concentration from 20 μg/m3 to 60 μg/m3 and during non monsoon period PM 10 varies from 100 μg/m3 to 250 μg/m3 and PM 2.5 varies from 70 μg/m3 to 165 μg/m3. The seasonal variation clearly indicates the severe PM 10 pollution during the dry winter season and also sometime during post-monsoon season in Dhaka City. Keywords: Air pollution; PM 2.5; PM 10; Air quality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v46i3.9049 BJSIR 2011; 46(3): 389-398

scholarly journals The impact of measures to reduce ambient air PM<sub>10</sub> concentrations originating from road dust, evaluated for a street canyon in Helsinki

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (17) ◽  
pp. 11199-11212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Stojiljkovic ◽  
Mari Kauhaniemi ◽  
Jaakko Kukkonen ◽  
Kaarle Kupiainen ◽  
Ari Karppinen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Street Canyon ◽  
Dust Emission ◽  
Road Dust ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Air Quality Measurements ◽  
Emission Models ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Quality Measurements

Abstract. We have numerically evaluated how effective selected potential measures would be for reducing the impact of road dust on ambient air particulate matter (PM10). The selected measures included a reduction of the use of studded tyres on light-duty vehicles and a reduction of the use of salt or sand for traction control. We have evaluated these measures for a street canyon located in central Helsinki for four years (2007–2009 and 2014). Air quality measurements were conducted in the street canyon for two years, 2009 and 2014. Two road dust emission models, NORTRIP (NOn-exhaust Road TRaffic Induced Particle emissions) and FORE (Forecasting Of Road dust Emissions), were applied in combination with the Operational Street Pollution Model (OSPM), a street canyon dispersion model, to compute the street increments of PM10 (i.e. the fraction of PM10 concentration originating from traffic emissions at the street level) within the street canyon. The predicted concentrations were compared with the air quality measurements. Both road dust emission models reproduced the seasonal variability of the PM10 concentrations fairly well but under-predicted the annual mean values. It was found that the largest reductions of concentrations could potentially be achieved by reducing the fraction of vehicles that use studded tyres. For instance, a 30 % decrease in the number of vehicles using studded tyres would result in an average decrease in the non-exhaust street increment of PM10 from 10 % to 22 %, depending on the model used and the year considered. Modelled contributions of traction sand and salt to the annual mean non-exhaust street increment of PM10 ranged from 4 % to 20 % for the traction sand and from 0.1 % to 4 % for the traction salt. The results presented here can be used to support the development of optimal strategies for reducing high springtime particulate matter concentrations originating from road dust.

scholarly journals The Diamond League athletic series: does the air quality sparkle?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Hodgson ◽  
Lee Chapman ◽  
Francis D. Pope
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Urban Air Pollution ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Performance Variation ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Respiratory Conditions ◽  
Race Performance

AbstractUrban air pollution can have negative short- and long-term impacts on health, including cardiovascular, neurological, immune system and developmental damage. The irritant qualities of pollutants such as ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM) can cause respiratory and cardiovascular distress, which can be heightened during physical activity and particularly so for those with respiratory conditions such as asthma. Previously, research has only examined marathon run outcomes or running under laboratory settings. This study focuses on elite 5-km athletes performing in international events at nine locations. Local meteorological and air quality data are used in conjunction with race performance metrics from the Diamond League Athletics series to determine the extent to which elite competitors are influenced during maximal sustained efforts in real-world conditions. The findings from this study suggest that local meteorological variables (temperature, wind speed and relative humidity) and air quality (ozone and particulate matter) have an impact on athletic performance. Variation between finishing times at different race locations can also be explained by the local meteorology and air quality conditions seen during races.

scholarly journals Ambient Particulate Matter Air Pollution in Mpererwe District, Kampala, Uganda: A Pilot Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Schwander ◽  
Clement D. Okello ◽  
Juergen Freers ◽  
Judith C. Chow ◽  
John G. Watson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Airborne Particulate Matter ◽  
Personal Exposure ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
Carbonaceous Aerosol ◽  
Coarse Particles

Air quality in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, has deteriorated significantly in the past two decades. We made spot measurements in Mpererwe district for airborne particulate matter PM2.5(fine particles) and coarse particles. PM was collected on Teflon-membrane filters and analyzed for mass, 51 elements, 3 anions, and 5 cations. Both fine and coarse particle concentrations were above 100 µg/m3in all the samples collected. Markers for crustal/soil (e.g., Si and Al) were the most abundant in the PM2.5fraction, followed by primary combustion products from biomass burning and incinerator emissions (e.g., K and Cl). Over 90% of the measured PM2.5mass can be explained by crustal species (41% and 59%) and carbonaceous aerosol (33%–55%). Crustal elements dominated the coarse particles collected from Kampala. The results of this pilot study are indicative of unhealthy air and suggest that exposure to ambient air in Kampala may increase the burden of environmentally induced cardiovascular, metabolic, and respiratory diseases including infections. Greater awareness and more extensive research are required to confirm our findings, to identify personal exposure and pollution sources, and to develop air quality management plans and policies to protect public health.

A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF AIR QUALITY IN MAKASSAR CITY SOUTH SULAWESI INDONESIA

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
SATTAR A. ◽  
M. RASHID ◽  
R. MAT ◽  
L. PUJI
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Suspended Particle ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
World Health ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Preliminary Survey ◽  
South Sulawesi ◽  
Ambient Air Quality Standard ◽  
Health Organization

Makassar has a strategic position as it is located in between the south and north in the provinces of South Sulawesi. Thus, the rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization within the area is unavoidable, resulting Makassar to be an area of mixed commercial–residential–industrial along with the problem of air pollution. Hence, it is important to monitor the quality of air in Makassar. This paper presents a preliminary survey of urban air quality in Makassar area based on SO2, CO, NO2, O3, Pb, and TSP (Total Suspended Particle) sampled over ten years period (2001 to 2010), while PM10was monitored for five years (2006 to 2010). The air quality data were obtained from measurements made by the Office of Ministry of Environment Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua and Environment Board of the Province of South Sulawesi as well as Environment agency of Makassar City. The average annual concentrations of SO2, CO, NO2, O3, Pb, TSP and PM10 recorded were 76 μg/m3, 1041 μg/m3, 43.2 μg/m3, 54.5 μg/m3, 0.7 μg/m3, 188 μg/m3, 54.6 μg/m3, respectively. Subsequently, these data are compared to the air quality threshold limits recommended by the Indonesia National Ambient Air Quality Standard (INAAQS) as well as guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).

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