Indoor air and your health

This is a contribution from The ESL Blogs produced by Environmental Solutions Ltd, a Kingston-based environmental management consultancy founded in April 1991

Several factors contribute to poor indoor air quality, including inadequate ventilation, problems controlling temperature, cleaning supplies like bleach and disinfectants, too high or too low humidity, recent remodelling, and other activities in or near your building.

If the ambient air (another name for outdoor air) is dirty, it most likely follows that the air inside is not as clean as we think. After all, this is the same air that flows through our windows, doors or other openings, to be circulated by fans and air-conditioning units.

In a document titled What Is Wrong with the Air Inside?, Sharonmae Shirley of Environmental Solutions Limited notes that some building designs, particularly closed designs, made to support energy conservation, have contributed to poor indoor air quality because they reduce the effective dilution of contaminants in the building, which makes it harder for them to be filtered out of the ventilation system, thus keeping them them trapped inside.

HEALTH RISKS

Consistent exposure to poor indoor air quality often leaves occupants with symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, sinus infections and asthma attacks. Shirley's article also reveals that cases of upper respiratory tract illnesses have been on the rise in Jamaica since 1994 (Ministry of Health paper) and that the number of individuals suffering from asthma, both young and old, has increased considerably in recent time - whether they reside "in dust-prone areas or live in upscale residential communities". Long-term exposure to some of these contaminants can even lead to death.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that poor indoor air quality may pose a risk to the health of over half of the world's population, particularly in developing countries like Jamaica and others in the Caribbean. Globally, industrialisation and heavy traffic have made outdoor air quality a major concern. This is made worse by the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, despite the presence of a number of common indoor air pollutants, the WHO notes that there is not enough public-health awareness on indoor air pollution globally.

The organisation recommends a number of guidelines for several of these common pollutants, with information primarily aimed at public-health officials and relevant "specialists and authorities involved in the design and use of buildings, indoor materials and products".

NO STANDARDS IN JAMAICA

Jamaica currently has no standards regarding indoor air quality. However, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has developed the Jamaica Air Quality Management Programme, a "strategic document geared towards achieving a quality of ambient air that is amenable to human and environmental health". NEPA also recently improved its capacity to assess air quality within the Kingston Metropolitan Area with the establishment of two new ambient air quality-monitoring sites in Washington Gardens, St Andrew and Waterford, Portmore. Hopefully, a similar programme will be established to set and monitor standards for indoor air quality in the near future.

Since there is no national policy, it is therefore up to the owners and operators of public and private buildings - business places, homes, schools, churches, entertainment venues and other enclosed spaces - to monitor the quality of their indoor air.

For business places, the US Department of Labour's Occupational Safety and Health Administration states that the qualities of good indoor air "should include comfortable temperature and humidity, adequate supply of fresh outdoor air, and control of pollutants from inside and outside of the building".

Shirley advises that "improving indoor air quality involves integrating three main strategies, specifically the removal, dilution or filtration of air pollutants". It is often not easy to isolate the exact contaminant, so building owners and operators should contact a professional to assess the area and provide recommendations.

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