An Indoor Environmental Quality Investigation of the Fayette County (Pennsylvania) Courthouse

Details

• Personal Author:
  Coffey, Christopher C. ; Martin SB Jr.
• Description:
  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a health hazard evaluation (HHE) investigation in the basement of the Fayette County Courthouse in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Employees had reported a variety of health complaints including headaches, throat irritation, eye irritation, nausea, fatigue and nasal/sinus symptoms. Potential causes of the complaints included excessive mould/ mildew, lack of air flow, odours and high dust levels. A number of locations showing signs of water incursion or leakage were found to have mould growth. The air flow provided by the ventilation systems in most areas was inadequate, although temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide levels largely met published recommendations. Levels of common volatile organic compounds were all below established exposure limits, and only toluene was found in concentrations above established odour thresholds. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Bacteria Bacterial Infections Dust Environmental Exposure Environmental Health Fungi Microbiology Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Ventilation

  More +
• Keywords:
  Air-quality Bacterial-dusts Bacterial-infections Environmental-exposure Environmental-factors Environmental-health Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Microorganisms Molds Organic-compounds Physiological-disorders Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Ventilation-systems Volatiles

  More +
• ISSN:
  1420-326X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies ; NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  456-464
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032973
• Citation:
  Indoor Built Environ 2007 Oct; 16(5):456-464
• Contact Point Address:
  Stephen B. Martin, Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIOSH, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505-2888
• Email:
  SMartin1@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Indoor and Built Environment
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a8e506ac3714f97a5ca0634dbad9cbe1b3596a7104bc4baf0c279b98e868a0fbe2f64fe23e85243267a15d4b2f26a327ff0f308fb31e30952a88972250a7d1dc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188720/cdc_188720_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.80 MB ]