What is the “bad air”?

What is the “bad air”?

Generally, the “bad air” should be the condition that is in contrary to that of the “good air” as mentioned hereabove. However, we need to understand about the air pollution and the factors for the bad air environment, the dangers, where they come from, and how to prevent those factors.

Indoor air quality is usually the direct effect from the status of the air outside the building, even under the air-conditioned system with the close loop air circulation, because there remains the air and pollution movement from outside leak into the indoor air. For example, the leak points at the building, and the opening and closing of the doors. Therefore, if there are heavy traffics outside the building, or the construction sites nearby, or the garbage dump with both organic garbage like waste food and the chemical garbage, all of these can affect the indoor air to share the pollutions. 

But, do we realize that the air pollution can also be found inside the building with the generating source from the factors inside the building? For instance, the volatile substance from building paints, the volatile substance from the glue to make the furniture like plywood and paint coatings, the volatile substance from the chemical cleaning solutions and pesticide, including the powder chemical from the office equipment like printer and copy machine.

Before we learn more about these contaminants and health threatening environment, we should try the “check list” below to evaluate the quality of the air at the place where you stay most during the day. Check the box in front of the symptoms that used to happen to you. 

• Irritating eyes (stingy and itching)
• Skin rash and itching (face, arms or body)
• Allergic symptoms (cough, sneeze, running nose, and clogged nose)
• Throat / nose inflammation
• Difficult to breathe, Dyspnea
• Drying throat 
• Headache or dizziness especially in the afternoon
• Fatigue
• Chronic fatigue, and can feel tired even after a long sleep / rest
• Frequently got a cold, and take times to recover

4 Categories of Air Pollutions inside the Building

1. Biological pollutions

Biological pollutions refer to the bacteria, fungi, viruses, pollens, animal hair, and animal dung, or even the very small insects. These can directly affect the quality of the indoor air, by means of illness such as communicating diseases, respiratory diseases, and allergy. The area at risk of these biological pollutions is not limited only to the hospital with many patients under congested environment, but also can be found even inside our home and office.
 
As biological pollutions are living matters, we normally find them in the cooking area and the wet to damp area as well as the textile home furnishing like curtains and rugs which can be the perfect spot to keep and store dusts and biological pollutions. 
 
If our office is air-conditioned, one sick person can spread the germs into the air and such germs can still be circulating inside the office air. To worsen, if there are contributing factors for the growth of those germs such as moistures or more sick persons which can aggravate the spread of germs within the area, the result can be the continuing sickness of office staffs. 
 
In the case of pollutions from the animal dung, we can find it in the bedroom especially at the bed where there are dead skin cells and debris on the bed unseen to us. This is the food for the dust mites, and hence dust mites will live at the bed and their dungs are claimed to cause allergy to people.  
 
The standard of the indoor air quality by Singapore Standard stipulates that the count of bacteria and fungi each should not exceed 500 CFU (Colonial forming unit)/cubic meter. Normal and healthy people may be able to resist the effect from these germs up until the standard level, but the risky group like young kids, elderly and the patients may be subject to the lower level to cause them sickness.
 

Dust : Danger or just annoying…

Dust size can range from 0.002 micron to 500 micron, whereby the dust with the size above 50 micron can be seen with care eyes. We may have heard about the dust PM10 and PM 2.5, where the latter can significantly mark a health threat, because it can get through the body immune system to the lower part of the respiratory system, which can cause heart / lung diseases, and asthma.
 
With such a health risk, we should know the cause of dust first. Dust occurs by the natural process of degradation of soil, stones, sands and soot. People can add more dust to the air by the constructions and transportation with dust from soil and sand, and soot from the car smoke.
The level of the dust (PM10) is stipulated to be under 50mg/cubic meter, and PM2.5 at 35 mg/cubic meter. However, the level of dust can be the effect from the surroundings such as construction sites, industrial sites, heavy traffic at the city center, or even the renovations of the rooms inside the building. 
 

2. Chemical and Mineral Pollutions

Asbestos is the inorganic substance that occurs naturally. It can be found at soil and stones. Its strengths and heat resistant quality make it suitable as construction materials such as insulator, fire retardant, ceiling and roofs, and vinyl floor. Asbestos can be harmful to people only when it is torn or damaged, which will cause the diffusion of asbestos into the air, such as the renovation and the replacement of the insulator. Sometimes we can see the damages at the insulator of the air duct inside the office building, which cause the diffusion of asbestos inside the air duct and flow down to the living space. 

The danger of breathing in the asbestos even its smallest particles for the prolonged period can cause the chronic lung disease such as lung cancer.
 
The need is to replace the asbestos material with other safer materials, if possible. Otherwise, we need to set the measures to prevent the diffusion of asbestos during the renovation or demolition, as well as the proper cleaning measures after the renovation or demolition, to ensure that none of the asbestos remains to be detrimental to tenants’ health.  

Formaldehyde is the most found chemical in the construction and building materials such as paints, glue, plywood, pleating textiles, coating paints, chemical fertilizer and pesticides. The danger is when people inhales the volatile substance of formaldehyde, which can cause the irritation due to the corrosive property of formaldehyde at eyes, skin and respiratory system. This can lead to lung inflammation, and even the genetic change and carcinogens. 

The concentration level of formaldehyde is stipulated not to exceed 0.05 part per million for the indoor area, which means that even the small contamination of formaldehyde can mark a dangerous threat to our health in the long term. The illness is usually found as the accumulating effects from a prolonged expose to this substance. 

VOCs – Volatile organic compound is the emission of gas from the solid and liquid substance, which can be the chemical like house paints and coating paints, cleaning chemical for household use, disinfecting chemicals, cosmetics, fragrances, dry cleaning clothes, and wood furniture with termite treatment, and pesticides.

In the office, VOCs can be found at the office equipment like printers, copy machines, correction pen, chemical marker, as well as other equipment with glue and paints.
 
The danger of inhaling these substances for prolonged time is the health effect at respiratory system, irritation at skin, eyes, nose and throat, headache, dizziness and nauseas.
 
The concentration level should not exceed 0.009 – 3,000 ppm (part per million) for general indoor area.
 

3. Dangerous gas pollutions

Radon is the radioactive which is colorless and odorless, and can be found in nature even in the normal breathing air if the concentration level is within the safety limit. Radon is in fact the leading cause of lung cancer. It is occurred by the natural decaying chains of radium, and evaporates through the land soil and stones. Therefore, radon can be traced in any building, if there is the leakage of the buildings and there is the evaporation of radon from the land.

O3 or Ozone is the common misunderstanding for most people for the image of safety. The popular phrase among Thai people “Let’s go for the breathing of ozone” is in fact the wrong understanding, as ozone is the toxic pale blue gas with the distinctive smell. It can occur naturally or by man-made.  There is a statement about ozone that is “Good up High, Bad Nearby”, because ground-level ozone is very harmful to our health with the concentration level of only 0.1 part per million (PPM) can be detected with its distinctive smell. However, the ozone at the atmosphere level can help absorb the ultraviolet from the sun light. 

The safety level of ozone at ground level is between 0.075 – 0.070 PPMconcentration in the air.Such a small portion can cause a serious health risk, as inhaling ozone can affect the function of lung and respiratory system with the symptoms of asthma, chest pain, cough and respiratory infections and lung inflammation.

“Where does indoor ozone come from?”
First, we need to understand that “ozone” can occur by the chemical reactions under the sun light and heats between the VOCs from house paints, glue, leather products and household chemical, and the gas from the engine combustion like Nitrogen-oxide and Carbon monoxide. In addition, home ozone can be found from the ozone generator that is sold in the market claiming the property of cleaning and disinfecting the air. Moreover, the printers and copy machines can also generate ozone with the same approach of chemical reactions mentioned above. Today, we have various choices of office equipment models that are free from generating ozone for a safer home equipment selection.

Nitrogen Dioxide is the gas occurred by the burning of various fuels at the high temperature, such as the engine combustion in the car, the heater and water heater that uses gas as fuel, soot from smoking cigarette and industrial burnings. EPA and ASHRAE from the USA stipulate the concentration level of this gas for a safe indoor air quality should not exceed 0.053 PPM. The health risk from inhaling Nitrogen Dioxide at the level beyond 0.053 PPM can cause the chest pain, cough, suffocation and decreasing immunity of respiratory system, hence leading to diseases like bronchitis, asthma and emphysema.

Carbon Dioxide can be generating by human from every exhale with carbon dioxide. Therefore, any crowded room can have a high level of carbon dioxide, which can cause discomfort. The stipulated level of concentration should not exceed 1,000 – 1,200 PPM; however, even at the level of 750 PPM for a prolonged period of time can cause discomfort such as nauseas, dizziness, nose and throat irritation. The level of carbon dioxide exceeding such safety level can be detrimental to health even the inability to breathe. 

Carbon Monoxide is the gas from the burning of wood and fuels, which can be found in the heavy traffic area. The stipulated level of concentration of Carbon Monoxide should not exceed 9 PPM for indoor air quality, whereby staying in the area with the too high concentration of Carbon Monoxide can cause suffocation, tired, nauseas, headache, and even the lack of oxygen at the brain which can lead of unconsciousness and death.For indoor air, Carbon Monoxide is usually occurred from the cigarette smoke, and leaking car smoke from the garage into the home from the wall leakage and door / windows. 
 

4. Other factors

To comfortably stay in any areas, there are many factors that can directly affect the bodily comfort such as the smooth and fresh breathes, as below.

Temperature
Any room with too high or too low temperature can cause discomfort to the people staying inside. The broad range of temperatures that is stipulated as “comfort level” is between 22-25 degree Celsius. Although the level of temperature can be subjective, as long as it does not cause any discomfort or sickness such as headaches from too high temperature, or cold from too low temperature.
In addition, the too high temperature can cause sweats and body odors from the emitting carbon dioxide from human, these can also increase air pollutions indoor.

Humidity is the main cause of mold and fungi, which are considered as the indoor biological air pollutions. Humidity is mostly found in the changes of room temperatures between day time and night time when the air-conditioned unit is turned on and off respectively. The difference in temperatures can lead to humidity. 

However, the key cause of humidity is usually found in the insufficient cleaning schemes in the house or in the building especially in the toilet, kitchen and AHU room in the large building. The drainage problem and water leakage of the water pipe can be the main cause of humidity and ultimately the problem of mold and fungi.

Ventilation is the key factor in the management of indoor air quality and the elimination of most indoor air pollutions, because the good ventilation can disperse the air pollutions from the building, hence reducing the concentrating risk level of the pollutions directly. However, the ventilation system is usually planned during the construction of the house and/or building, and the poor planning and design can lead to the more difficult measures to tackle the indoor air pollutions at the later stage. The designs and planning include the consideration of wind direction.  Good ventilation can make people feel comfortable, and in most cases, the opening of windows to get fresh air from outside to replace the old circulating air from the air-conditioned room is recommended, except in the case that outside air is exposed to high pollution risks.

Odor is the annoying pollutions that affect the comforts of body and mind directly, which include the chemical odor and garbage odor. For area inside the house, the caution is at the garbage bin, which is left with rotting trashes. Such natural microorganism process to degrade the garbage will cause the gas with bad odors. Therefore, the bad odor can be assumed with some sorts of bacteria or germs as causes, which are biological air pollutions as discussed earlier.

In fact, “odor” is the most simple warning sign of indoor air pollutions, because it affects the safety and the comfort of living in the problem area. The odor problem can be found in:

• Rancid odor        Caused by moisture and humidity, plus the poor ventilation. 
• Putrid odor          Caused by rotten food, dead animals, and other sewage sludge
• Chemical odor         Caused by home appliance and equipment that consists of volatile organic compounds which are detrimental to human health as well as brain and respiratory system.
• Sweat odor         Caused by human when it is too hot, or after some exercises. The sweat odor occurs when microorganism degrades the sweats. It thus can cause an accumulating odor at clothes, and affects the personality of the person with       sweat odors.
• Pet odor              Caused by animal dung, especially the spot where the pet always uses. The accumulating odor can be very strong and difficult to get rid of. Given its biological source, it can lead to further bacteria and molds.
• Food odor           Caused by the cooking process such as cooking stove, fresh meat, and cooked food, all of which can lead to bad and uncomfortable odors at home.