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Title: NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) testimony on indoor air quality by J. Melius on August 3, 1983

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6922568

The testimony concerned the activities of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) of the Centers for Disease Control concerning indoor air quality. Since 1971 NIOSH has conducted over 200 indoor-air-quality investigations. More than 90% of these were conducted in the last 5 years. Nearly all were conducted in response to worker symptoms or illnesses which were thought to be related to the building environment in which the people were working. Generally, the indoor air pollution evaluations conducted were categorized by the source of contamination in the environment, if identified, or otherwise by the type of symptoms or illnesses experienced by the workers. These categories of contamination include contamination from outside the building, from building materials, from copying machines, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, from chemicals used in building maintenance, and inadequate ventilation. While more serious illnesses occasionally have been attributed to working in these building environments, no clear evidence of health problems more serious than apparent allergic reactions in a few individuals to specific office contaminants has been found. The CEH conducted a survey of State health department programs for hazard evaluations of nonoccupational indoor air pollution.

Research Organization:
National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA)
OSTI ID:
6922568
Report Number(s):
PB-90-180894/XAB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English