scholarly journals A study of indoor air quality investigations in B.C health authorities

Author(s):  
Debbie Lee ◽  
BCIT School of Health Sciences, Environmental Health ◽  
Helen Heacock ◽  
Bobby Sidhu

  Canadians spend 90 percent of their lifetime indoors and are currently aware that poor indoor air quality (IAQ) can negatively impact human health. If there are any IAQ problems, the Health Authorities will conduct IAQ investigations to respond to the complainants or resolve the conflicts. An online survey to Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and specialists was used to understand the frequencies that B.C. Health Authorities conduct IAQ investigations, the locations Health Authorities encountered most IAQ queries, the different types of pollutants that IAQ instruments are used for and the preference for instruments chosen. Five common indoor air pollutants, such as mould, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), radon, particulate matters (PMs), CO and CO2, were chosen and the Chi-Square test was used to analyze the data in this study. This study showed that most EHOs had never conducted IAQ investigations since they had worked in the B. C Health Authorities. Mould problems between landlord and tenant were EHOs mostly encountered. The study found that EHOs referred to other agencies or consultants when they received complaints. The data showed that the method of managing IAQ problems was associated with the Health Authorities because few EHOs from Vancouver Coastal Health indicated they had used equipment to conduct IAQ investigations. The mostly encountered location and frequency of conducting radon investigations were significantly associated with the Health Authorities due to an on-going project in Northern Authority. Most EHOs and specialists had shown that they educated public regarding to the information of IAQ instead of monitoring the IAQ pollutants. The results of this study indicate that EHOs did not get involved in IAQ investigations often and also showed that mould problems were the mostly encountered IAQ problems between the Health Authorities. The most important role of EHOs and specialists in this area is to educate public to solve or prevent IAQ problems.  

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 250
Author(s):  
Chuloh Jung ◽  
Jihad Awad

Due to unprecedented urbanization, UAE had built many new residential projects with poor choices of material and ventilation. This social phenomenon is leading UAE to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) faster than any other countries. The Dubai Municipality regulates the indoor air quality with strict stipulation, but the detailed regulations are still insufficient. The objective of this paper is to measure the indoor air quality of new residential projects in Dubai to suggest the improvement of the regulations for indoor air quality. As a methodology, a field survey was conducted to investigate the status of indoor air pollution in residential buildings. Based on the field survey data, lab experiments for building materials were conducted and a computer simulation on radon gas was conducted. The result had shown that radon gas was mainly detected in new townhouses and labor camp houses, and its concentration was found to exceed the standard. Volatile organic solvents (VOCs) and formaldehyde (CH2O) were mainly detected in showhouses and new townhouses, and the concentration distribution was about 10 times higher than that of outdoors. It was proven that emission concentration of radon gas from various building materials were detected, and the order was red clay, gypsum board, and concrete. Volatile organic solvents (VOCs) are mainly detected in oil paints and PVC floor and the radiation amount of all pollutants increased with temperature increase. In computer simulation, it was found that a new townhouse needs a grace period from 20 days to 6 months to lower the radon gas concentration by 2 pCi/L. This study will serve as a basic data to establish more detailed regulation for the building materials and improve the IAQ standards in Dubai.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-Chyi Duh

This study investigated transient effects on the air quality of parked cars and moving cars with and without operating air conditioning. Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and formaldehyde concentrations were measured for comparative analysis. The results showed that simply changing the air conditioning system from internal circulation to external circulation to introduce air from outside reduces carbon dioxide concentrations by more than 50%, volatile organic compound concentrations by more than 77%, and the heat index from 0.1℃/min to less than 0.05 ℃/min. In order to conserve energy and improve car indoor air quality, this study can serve as a reference on healthy car environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. 2208-2212
Author(s):  
Endang Purnawati Rahayu ◽  
Zulfan Saam ◽  
Sukendi Sukendi ◽  
Dedi Afandi

BACKGROUND: Air quality in inpatient rooms influenced by several factors. Room not qualified health can cause disease and can spread through equipment, the material used, food and drink, health workers, patients and visitors. AIM: The purpose of this study is to know the factors that affect air quality in the inpatient room at a private hospital, Pekanbaru. METHODS: The research is quantitative analytic by design cut latitude study. Samples from 120 nurses were selected overall sampling. The data do with the measurement directly, interviews and observation using a questionnaire. Data analysed by using the chi-square with significance p-value less than 0.05. RESULTS: The quality of the air in inpatient rooms has met the standard. Variables are affecting air quality in inpatient rooms in the hospital significantly with p-value more than 0.05 is temperature, dust, the germ, density occupancy, sanitation room. While the moisture, standard operating procedures and behaviour is not significant. CONCLUSION: The factors that significantly affect indoor air quality inpatient hospitalisation are temperature, dust, germ numbers, occupancy density, room sanitation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 225 ◽  
pp. 05018
Author(s):  
Noor Huwaida Yahaya ◽  
Ftwi Yohaness Hagos ◽  
Mohamad Firdaus Basrawi

This work focuses on indoor air quality evaluation of commercial buildings in Kuantan. Some buildings have been selected to monitor indoor air quality. The research has been carried out only in Kuantan, which focused on hotels and government buildings. Some sample measurements were taken which include air temperature, relative humidity, and air movement, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), respirable particulate matter (PM 10), formaldehyde and total volatile organic compound (TVOC). In addition, questionnaires were conducted on a number of workers in each building to determine the level of health and illness caused by air in the building where they work. Hence, this study has analyzed the link between the questioner results and the results of indoor air measurements that were carried out. From surveys, it appears there are four buildings that have low air flow, four buildings have a lot of dust and five buildings have a high temperature. In contrast, four buildings have a good indoor air quality.


IEEE Access ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 22357-22365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faan Hei Hung ◽  
Kim-Fung Tsang ◽  
Chung Kit Wu ◽  
Yucheng Liu ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Liping Pang ◽  
Chenyuan Yang ◽  
Xiaodong Cao ◽  
Qing Tian ◽  
Bo Li

In this study, the indoor air quality (IAQ) was investigated in a subway station with fully enclosed platform screen doors in Beijing, China. Eight indoor air pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, SO2 (sulfur dioxide), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), NH3 (ammonia), CO (carbon monoxide), CH2O (formaldehyde) and TVOC (total volatile organic compound), were measured for six consecutive days in October 2019. The results indicated that the IAQ in the subway station was basically stable at good levels for most times during the whole measurement period. All eight indoor air pollutants were far below their corresponding maximum allowable concentrations, except for the PM2.5 concentrations, which occasionally exceeded the concentration limits. The concentrations of indoor air pollutants in the subway station were basically within the corresponding standards. The correlation analyses showed that outdoor air pollutants have important influences on indoor air pollutants. The concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and CO in the subway station were positively correlated with their corresponding outdoor concentrations. PM10 was statistically significantly correlated with the passenger flow and train frequency, but the other air pollutants were less impacted by the passenger flow and train frequency.


10.14311/492 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. Jokl

Human physiology research makes evident that the Weber-Fechner law applies not only to noise perception but also to the perception of other environmental components. Based on this fact, new decibel units for dor component representing indoor air quality in majority locations have been proposed: decicarbdiox dCd (for carbon dioxide CO2) and decitvoc dTv (for total volatile organic compound TVOC). Equations of these new units have been proved by application of a) experimental relationships between odor intensity (representing odor perception by the human body) and odor concentrations of CO2 and TVOC, b) individually  measured CO2 and TVOC levels (concentrations) – from these new decibel units can be calculated and their values compared with decibel units of noise measured in the same locations. The undoubted benefit of using the decibel scale is that it gives much better approximation to human perception of odor intensity compared to the CO2 and TVOC concentration scales.


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