A unified method to compute limits of acceptability for thermal comfort and indoor air quality at the workplace

Abstract

As a part of their very wide range of applications, international standards also represent an excellent technical support to the legislation on comfort and health at the workplace. The existing standards on thermal comfort and on indoor air quality both include limits of acceptability which strongly depend on the category chosen for the investigated work environment. Therefore, the same situation can easily meet compliant or largely exceed specified limits depending on which category is applied. Unfortunately, no clue is currently provided on how to select the appropriate category, and the enduser is left uninformed. In this paper, we present a method to assign limits of acceptability to any work situation whose thermal comfort and indoor air quality must be assessed. The method extends previous work developed specifically for thermal comfort and is based on an algorithm which takes into account three quantities that provide a comprehensive description of the work environment, the activity which is carried out and the sensitivity of individuals. The scheme's simple modular structure can easily accommodate both changes and additions, should other hypothetical elements be identified to be as relevant to the classification scheme.

Indoor Air Quality Assessment for a Multistorey University Office Building in Malaysia

“…In fact, many office buildings have significant sources of air pollution, possibly due to inadequate provision of the ventilation system. Research also focuses on computing acceptability limits for IAQ at workplace (Freda et al, 2017).…”

Performance and economic efficiency analysis of an integrated, outdoor fan-ventilated cooling device

“…Interest in managing indoor spaces where the modern population spend at least 80% of their time has increased following research on the negative effects of highly concentrated indoor pollutants on the health and productivity of indoor occupants [ 1 , 2 ]. Therefore, air purification technologies that withdraw indoor air pollutants such as fine dust and radon are in demand [ 3 ].…”

The energy and time saving coordinated control methods of CO2, VOCs, and PM2.5 in office buildings

“…Indoor air pollution is the third leading cause of air pollution worldwide, after bituminous coal and photochemical smog pollution [ 1 ]. High concentrations of indoor pollutants can lead to poor indoor air quality (IAQ), which has negative effects on human health and productivity [ 2 , 3 ]. Many investigations and studies have revealed an indoor CO 2 level higher than 1000 ppm [ 4 , 5 ].…”