RESUMEN
A survey of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) controls in California office buildings was carried out to obtain information of the type and distribution of ETS controls in office buildings and to evaluate the effectiveness of various ETS controls. A total of 118 smoking areas in 111 county and city buildings were inspected to collect information on the type of ETS controls. Only 31% of the smoking areas inspected were physically separated from nonsmoking areas with full floor-to-true-ceiling walls, 25% exhausted air to the outside, and 38% did not recirculate air to non-smoking areas. A total of 23 smoking areas and their adjacent non-smoking areas in 21 buildings were monitored for nicotine and fluorescent particulate matter (FPM). A tracer gas, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), was released in smoking areas to measure the air leakage from smoking areas to adjacent non-smoking areas. The measurements of nicotine, FPM, and SF6 have shown large variations of the effectiveness of ETS controls. The least effective type of smoking area studied were open areas with no physical barriers between smoking and nonsmoking areas, no exhaust to the outside and no return air separation. On the contrary, smoking rooms with three ETS controls (i.e., physical separation, exhaust to outside, and no air recirculation) were the most effective design in containing ETS within smoking areas.
Asunto(s)
Monitoreo del Ambiente , Contaminación por Humo de Tabaco/análisis , Lugar de Trabajo , California , Recolección de Datos , Arquitectura y Construcción de Instituciones de Salud , Humanos , Política Organizacional , Tamaño de la Partícula , Fumar , VentilaciónRESUMEN
We have developed an automated system for continuously measuring the air-exchange rate and 222Rn (radon) concentration in an occupied residence. The air-exchange rate is measured over 90-min intervals by tracer gas decay using sulfur hexafluoride as the tracer gas. The radon concentration is measured over 3-hr intervals using a flow-through scintillation cell. Temperatures at up to seven points are measured every half hour. A microcomputer system controls the measurements, performs preliminary data analysis, and logs the data and the results. Continuous measurement of ventilation rate and radon concentration permits the effective radon source magnitude to be calculated as a function of time. The first field application of this system was a study in Rochester, NY, of residential air-exchange rates and indoor air quality. For the 8 houses monitored, the mean values over 4- to 14-day periods ranged from less than 0.2 to 2.2 pCi l-1 for radon, from 0.22 to 1.16 hr-1 for air-exchange rate and from less than 0.05 to 0.75 pCi l-1 hr-1 for radon source magnitude.