Monitoring, Human Health Risk Assessment and Optimized Management for Typical Pollutants in Indoor Air from Random Families of University Staff, Wuhan City, China

Abstract

Abstract:In this study, 31 workers at a university were randomly selected for indoor environmental monitoring in Wuhan. Two indicators, formaldehyde and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), and using 139 monitoring points, monitored the indoor environment (including home and workplace) as well as the interior space of the main furniture. This study carried out the environmental quality assessment for TVOC based on the dB index method and the health risk assessment of indoor formaldehyde for the university staff receptors and, then focused on health risk in home environment to carry out detailed environmental health management. The results showed that TVOC in the three types of home spaces exceeded about 80% of the national standard. The excessive formaldehyde ratios for kitchens (79%), bedrooms (77%) and living rooms (74%) were calculated. Formaldehyde health risks all exceeded the United States Environmental Protection Agency, (USEPA) acceptable risk threshold. The formaldehyde concentrations in workplaces were about 0.03 mg·m −3 . While the risk contribution of the home environment to the total average health risk (0.0014, whether male and female) is about 96%. For the adapted and unadapted persons, 90% and 55% of the monitoring points were located within the long-term tolerable range of TVOC decibel application, respectively. Long-term exposure to such an environment can lead to the Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). On the other hand, through comparison of the concentration of pollutants in the interior spaces of furniture and home spaces, it was determined tentatively that the pollutants were mainly concentrated in rarely used furniture. In summary, the air pollution in the studied homes of university staff was much serious than that in workplaces, which showed a need to manage TVOC and formaldehyde pollution by the three means: the purchase of green products, removal of internal pollution from furniture, and creating a good indoor volatile diffusion environment to create a healthy home environment.

Spatial Distribution and Fuzzy Health Risk Assessment of Trace Elements in Surface Water from Honghu Lake

“…Health risk assessment is identified as the processes to estimate events probability and probable degree of adverse health effects over a specific period [ 19 ]. Risk level of environmental pollutants to human beings depends on the body’s exposure dose to the pollutants and toxicity of pollutants.…”

The Approach of Including TVOCs Concentration in the Indoor Environmental Quality Model (IEQ)—Case Studies of BREEAM Certified Office Buildings

“…When evaluating the emissions of construction products, TVOC provides specific additional data to be combined with the EU-LCI concept and CMR approach; carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction compounds. The results of practical analyzes [50] showed that TVOC may exceed about 80% of the national standard. Formaldehyde health risks exceeded acceptable risk threshold for the adapted and un-adapted persons, 90% and 55% of the monitoring points were located within the long-term tolerance range of TVOC decibel application, respectively.…”

Methods for Early Detection of Microbiological Infestation of Buildings Based on Gas Sensor Technologies

“…As it was mentioned before, indoor air quality has a greater impact on human and animal health than outdoor air, which may seem to be more polluted [15,57,58]. The SBS symptoms intensify as the time spent in the building increases, but they disappear or are significantly alleviated when people are away from the sick buildings [59].…”

“…Contamination of the internal environment with fungi and, thus, increased occurrence of SBS is mainly caused by the presence of microbiological volatile organic compounds (MVOC), which are a subgroup of volatile organic compounds (VOC)-considered to be carcinogenic-mycotoxins, fungal spores, and fragments of mycelium [58,[64][65][66][67][68]. These substances are secondary metabolites produced by fermentation and are volatile due to their physicochemical properties [69,70].…”