Indoor Pollutants (1981) / Chapter Skim
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VIII. Effects of Indoor Pollution on Human Welfare
VIII. Effects of Indoor Pollution on Human Welfare
Pages 419-449
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From page 419... ...
Discomfort is a sensitive indicator of the need for adjustments in environmental quality control. The relationships between indoor pollution and productivity can be evaluated only after one carefully def ines productivity and determines how it is to be assessed.
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From page 420... ...
Some character rustics of hous ing constitute def inite r isks to health -- e.g., carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty venting of space-heating systemS72 and lead poisoning from paints.~. The two mentioned are also related to low-income houses, which often have greater rates of air inf titration and, because they are close to sources of pollution, transport pollution more freely from outdoors to indoors.
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From page 421... ...
HUMAN DISCOMFORT The incentive to control the indoor environment is derived as much from consideration of human comfort as from consideration of health. Discomfort provides an immediate incentive to control the quality of the indoor environment.
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From page 422... ...
~ As mentioned in Chapter IV, people have historically avoided bad-smelling air for fear that it signaled illness-causing conditions. In the nineteenth century, the criteria for ventilation commonly arose from the notion that odorous air contained harmful ingredients known variously as crowd poison, morbific matter, and anthropotoxin.
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From page 423... ...
Winslow implied that the olfactory sense generally adapts to prevailing odorous stimulation in such a way as to reduce discomfort. Similarly, Cain reported that a temporary reduction in olfactory sensitivity, perhaps in conjunction with affective habituation, presumably explains why workers in some malodorous industries eventually find the odorous atmosphere unobjectionable.' In contrast, people who live near malodorous sources of pollution seem to exper fence adverse olfactory reactions of constant or even increasing severity.
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From page 424... ...
Frequent interruption of sleep or a iteration in the normal progress ion of sleep patterns may be thought to jeopardize physical or mental health eventually. Fortunately, adaptive alterations in the pattern of sleep seem to minimize most short-term consequences of disruption by noise.32 In addition to physiologic manifestations, noise exposure produces adverse behavioral manifestations.
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From page 425... ...
425 TABLE lIII I-1 Contributions of Various Characteristics of Sound to Annoyancea Sound Characteristic Steady hig}~-pitched sounds Steady low-pitched sounds Int erm i ttent high-p i tched sound s Intermit tent low-pi tched sounds Loudnes s of sounds Suddennes s of sounds Feeling that a sound cannot be turned of f Feeling that a sound is unnecessary Feeli ng that a sound comes from a source of lit tie benefit Sounds that clash (unharmonious ~ Sounds that catch one 's attention at a di stance and then ge t louder and louder Sound i s man-made aData from Dunn. 23 Relative Annoyance ~ Scale Value 3 e 94 Be 66 4e 54 Be 81 Be 46 5e 80 5e 55 5e 38 4 e 81 4e 43 5e 23 5e 65
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From page 426... ...
426 TABLE VIII-2 Suggested Maximal Tolerable Intensities in Various Indoor Locations for More or Less Continuous Noise between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.a Type of Space B road cas t s tudi o Concert hall Legitimate Cheater ~ 500 seats5 no amplification)
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From page 427... ...
Table vIII-3 offer s an example of how a change in clothing will be reflected quantitatively in clo values and optimal operative temperatures. Operative temperature is determined on the basis of air temperature and average radiant temperature.
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From page 428... ...
~ L~ ~ it/' _ He' 3~ hi, 2C, 25 ! I ~ ~ ~ ~ t t 80 fit ~ 0.0 IF ~0 OPERATIV £ TE MPE RAT UR E 0.01S O.OtO o can 0.005 ~ FIGURE VIII-l Acceptable ranges of operative temperature and humidity for persons wearing typical summer clothing and typical winter clothing.
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From page 429... ...
. bIndoor operative temperature is a weighted mean of average air and average radiant tempe ratures .
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From page 430... ...
SUMMARY A person's perception of discomfort can prov~de a useful indicator of possible adverse effects of environmental agents. Discomfort gives immediate incentive to avoid or to correct environmental def iciencies.
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From page 431... ...
DECREASED PRODUCTIVITY Direct relationships between indoor pollution and decreased productivity can be evaluated only if one carefully defines ~productivity. and how it is to be assessed.
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From page 432... ...
Over roughly the last 50 yr, the def inition of reproductivity ~ has used a complex of interacting entities and character - istics, including quantity and quality of product, monetary cost, -_i~eliness, and human costs. Human costs include those engendered by the manner of performance, the method of achieving the results, and the actual benefits, as compared with the social costs .
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From page 433... ...
The loss of light to dirt on windows, the role of dirty car windows in causing accidents, the inefficiencies of dirty cooling coils or heating elements, the erosion of building structures, and the diversion of resources (both money and time because of these problems all contribute to a lowering of productivity. Indeed, tobacco smoke and cooking and body odors form the primary requirement for ventilation in nonindustrial occupied spaces.
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From page 434... ...
A standard 10% t ime break, 18 min every 3 h, is considered adequate for personal needs, such as ~ trip to the rest room or a coffee break, although in practice it tends to be more generous in most industrial settings. A second set of relaxation allowances are based on such physiologic f actors as energy demands, postures, body motions, and restrictive protective clothing; a third is based on psychologic factors associated with timing , monotony, and the required concentration ~diligence)
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From page 435... ...
The allowances for these environmental factors are obviously only suggestions. Therefore, it is doubtful whether additional research would provide any reliable refinement of the productivity losses due to environmental factors, because such psychologic factors as motivation, leadership, expectation, and need (and their interactions ~ are as important as the environmental factors in determining productivity.
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From page 436... ...
High hazard Low hazard B Micro-Organisms - High hazard High hazard Low hazard Although these pay differentials are not directly relatable to productivity decrements, the increases in direct costs of protection are explicit, and productivity decrements are therefore also explicit; hence productivity losses can be inferred.
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From page 437... ...
Even if indoor pollutants do not adversely affect occupants or the rate of soiling, deter ioration, or corrosion, they increase requirements for housekeeping and associated environmental control systems to maintain the value of materials and property. PA=ICLE D=OSITION Deposition of dust particles on walls and other surfaces is the most common cause of soiling.
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From page 438... ...
438 20 t5 tr: 10 LU C)
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From page 439... ...
22 Electrostatic and thermal precipitation are two important mechanisms by which particles are deposited. Penney and Ziesse47 have measured the nobilities of airborne dust particles under the influence of thermal and electrostatic gradients and have estimated an average effective thermal mobility of 2.4 x 10 8 m2/°C.s and an effective electric mobility of about 11 x 10 8 m2/v m.
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From page 440... ...
Hermance et al., ~ ° for example, hare noted this in steadying damage to telephone contacts by airborne nitrates. GASEOUS POLLUTANTS The important gaseous pollutants -- such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon monoxide -- affect the corrosion and deterioration of materials.
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From page 441... ...
Sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen may also contribute to corrosion and deterioration, but they are more often considered as potential health hazards. Carbon monoxide is comparatively inert and does not react on surfaces; although it is a hazard to health and safety, i t does not normally cause soiling or deter "oration .
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From page 442... ...
Apply appropriate chemical inhibito ~ s
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From page 443... ...
3° reported that telephone switching equipment required increased maintenance because of nitrates. Inasmuch as nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides can be present in indoor environments, either from indoor source.
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From page 444... ...
' METROS) OF TREATMENT There are ways to reduce the indoor pollution that causes soiling and deterioration .
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From page 445... ...
There have been a few analyses of indoor dust, 2 ~ ~ ~ but much less work that has tried to relate soiling, corrosion, or other deleterious effects to dust composition and particle size. Thus, the effectiveness of dust removal technology and the specific nature of the dust, as they relate to soiling and deter ioration, need f urther investigation.
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From page 446... ...
Application of acceptable temperature drifts to built environments as a mode of energy conservation. ASHRAE Trans.
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From page 447... ...
M Simple Observations of Some Common Indoor Activities ss Producers of Airborne Particulates.
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From page 448... ...
Berman. Carbon monoxide contamination of the living environment: A national survey of home air specimens and children's blood samples.
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From page 449... ...
Developing a table of relaxation allowances.
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