Asbestos is a ubiquitous element of office building materials. The name is given to a number of naturally occurring, fibrous silicate minerals mined for their useful properties such as acoustic insulation, thermal insulation, chemical and thermal stability, and high...
Indoor Air Quality
Asbestos – A Hazardous Office Building Material
Asbestos is a ubiquitous element of office building materials. The name is given to a number of naturally occurring, fibrous silicate minerals mined for their useful properties such as acoustic insulation, thermal insulation, chemical and thermal stability, and high...
Responsibility for Soil Vapor Intrusion Mitigation
So, who is responsible for mitigating this soil vapor intrusion? The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) describes the conditions under which the state will conduct the vapor intrusion evaluations and the order in which the sites will be...
New York State Guidance on Soil Vapor Intrusion
Today we continue our discussion on soil vapor intrusion. Some states like New York have developed detailed vapor intrusion guidance of their own. New York's guidance explicitly raises concerns about reliance on modeling and exterior soil vapor screening and...
Soil Gas Vapor in the Workplace
If worker right-to-know laws are intended to require employers to inform their employees of the specific hazards based on specific chemicals to which their employees are exposed in the workplace, soil gas vapor regulation is intended to fill a significant gap, namely...
Building Related Illnesses
Building-related illnesses are those for which there is a clinically defined illness of known etiology. These include infections such as legionellosis and allergic reactions such as hypersensitivity diseases and are often documented by physical signs and laboratory...
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in Office Buildings: Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) Part II
Solutions to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) usually include combinations of the following. First, pollutant source removal or modification is an effective approach to resolving an IAQ problem when sources are known and control is feasible. Examples include routine...
Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) Part I: Causes of SBS
Employee complaints can be due to two types of building problems: Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), and building-related illnesses. SBS is used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a...
Health Effects from Indoor Air Pollutants
While pollutants commonly found in door air are responsible for many harmful effects, there is considerable uncertainty about what concentrations or periods of exposure are necessary to produce specific health problems. People also react very differently to exposure...
Mechanisms by which outdoor air becomes part of the indoor air environment
In a process known as infiltration, outdoor air flows into the building through openings, joints, cracks in walls, floors, ceilings, and around windows and doors. In natural ventilation, air moves through opened windows and doors. Air movement associated with...
