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Each year, October is recognized as National Indoor Air Quality Awareness Month. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refers to indoor air quality (IAQ) as the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants.
A comfortable temperature and relative humidity, good ventilation, and a lack of unpleasant odors comes to mind for many people when discussing IAQ. Also important is understanding and controlling airborne pollutants found indoors to help reduce the risk of health concerns.
EPA states that the health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later. These health effects could include everything from irritation of the eyes, nose and throat; headaches, dizziness and fatigue; and respiratory diseases, heart disease and even cancer.
Americans, on average, spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations according to the EPA. These pollutants can come from a combination of outdoor and indoor sources.
Indoor pollutants could be the result of many things, including cleanliness issues, lack of ventilation, dampness, construction activities taking place inside the building, smoking, cooking, indoor activities, new building materials and furnishing, how many people are in the building, and so much more.
Some of the more common IAQ pollutants include mold, pollen, particulate matter, animal dander, Legionella and other bacteria, radon, formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, lead, asbestos, carbon monoxide and combustion gases, and tobacco and marijuana smoke to name just a few.
Fortunately, there are ways to measure the indoor air quality of a building and test for pollutants to understand what people are breathing. With this information, steps can be taken to improve the indoor air quality for all building occupants.
These are just a few of the many things to know about National Indoor Air Quality Awareness Month. To learn more about this or other indoor air quality, industrial hygiene, environmental, health or safety issues, please visit the websites shown below.
Clark Seif Clark https://www.csceng.com
EMSL Analytical, Inc. https://www.emsl.com
LA Testing https://www.latesting.com
Zimmetry Environmental https://www.zimmetry.com
CTSI https://www.ctsiweb.com
Healthy Indoors Magazine https://www.healthyindoors.com |