NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) testimony on indoor air quality by J. D. Millar on May 26, 1989

Technical Report · Fri May 26 04:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:6856507

The testimony considered the work conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the area of indoor air quality. The quality of indoor air often worsened soon after energy-conservation measures were enacted at many business places following the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s. Concurrently, new office technologies in some cases presented chemical and physical hazards to the office staff as well. Of the 1200 NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluations performed between 1971 and 1978, six were to study indoor air-quality problems, or 0.5% of the total number of studies. Between 1978 to 1980 this percentage increased dramatically to 7.4% of the total and, since 1980 indoor air-quality studies have accounted for 12% of the total Health-Hazard Evaluation studies. Such pollution arises from human metabolic activity, smoking, structural components of the building and contents, biological contamination, office and mechanical equipment, and outside air pollutants that enter the building. In more than half the investigations, lack of adequate ventilation was the cause of the complaints. In 20 to 25% of the cases, sources inside the building were identified as the major generators of indoor air contaminants. Some major examples of governmental and nongovernmental research along this same line of study were highlighted.

• Research Organization: National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6856507
• Report Number(s): PB-90-180761/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AIR POLLUTION
AIR QUALITY
BUILDINGS
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NIOSH
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
OFFICE BUILDINGS
POLLUTION
SAFETY
SURVEYS
TOXIC MATERIALS
US ORGANIZATIONS
VENTILATION