Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Ventilation in 20 Social Venues in Perth, Western Australia

Abstract

The indoor air quality and ventilation systems of 20 indoor public venues in the Perth Metropolitan area were investigated. This included 4 licensed restaurants, 2 licensed sporting clubs, 6 coffee shops (including a smoking café in a non-smoking shopping centre), 5 taverns, 2 night-clubs and a major hotel. Indicators oftobacco smoke and ventilation were monitored, the ventilation system was inspected and the number of people engaged in smoking and not smoking were counted. Averaged levels of nicotine varied between 1.91 and 22.4 μg.m -3 and were highest in taverns. Significantly higher levels of nicotine were found in the public areas compared to levels behind the bar in taverns and clubs.Particulate levels and levels of carbon monoxide were elevated. With the exception of the major international hotel, all venues were found to have significant deficiencies in the running and maintenance of their air conditioning systems.

Evaluation of the Indoor Air Quality in Restaurants Before and After a Smoking Ban in Portugal

“…Although Klepeis et al [54] shows that tobacco smoke can emit larger amounts of CO in restaurant environments, that are comparable to CO levels on a busy freeway, even when the doors are wide open and the ventilation system is fully operating, Table 2 [56], suggesting an inadequate outdoor air supply in the dining areas when these are occupied leading to an accumulation of other indoor pollutants, regardless of whether there are people smoking in the restaurants or not (as also show the estimated ventilation rates). Our findings are supported by the ventilation studies of Dingle et al [9]; Carrington et al [57] and Lee et al [58].…”

“…Several studies investigating the effects of smoking in hospitality venues have determined that hospitality workers are exposed to relatively high concentrations of indoor pollutants, namely respirable suspended particulate matter (RSP) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], implying a substantial risk for the health of both guests and staff of such establishments.…”

Fine particulate matter measurements in Swiss restaurants, cafés and bars: What is the effect of spatial separation between smoking and non-smoking areas?

“…The limited knowledge of patrons of the ventilation systems is likely to be an obstacle to any legal requirement for ''adequate ventilation.'' It suggests that this proposed measure for air quality improvement is not practical, which also has been observed in a study in Perth, Australia (Dingle et al, 2002).…”

Contribution of fine particulate matter sources to indoor exposure in bars, restaurants, and cafes

“…Considering that 83% of establishments had one or more doorways open, and 39% had one or more windows open to allow a draft into the establishment, it is likely that natural ventilation did in fact influence concentrations, even though it was not possible to calculate the extent of it. Even so, expert opinion of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), in addition to empirical evidence, shows that mechanical ventilation cannot effectively remove ETS (Akbar-Khanzadeh, 2003;Carrington et al, 2003;Dingle et al, 2002;Drope et al, 2004). This signifies that for the time being, smoking bans remain the only effective way to prevent ETS exposure (Samet et al, 2005).…”