Towards Equitable and Sustainable Indoor Air Quality Guidelines – a Perspective on Mandating Indoor Air Quality for Public Buildings

Details

• Personal Author:
  Clinchard S ; Dimitroulopoulou S ; Dudzinska MR ; Fan X ; Haverinen-Shaughnessy U ; Jacobs P ; Maula H ; Park, Ju-Hyeong ; Staszowska A ; Toyinbo O
• Description:
  A recent article published in Science urges mandatory indoor air quality (IAQ) standards in public spaces, focusing on protecting public health, especially against diseases such as COVID-19, but also IAQ in general. Given the significance of this topic to our society, this short communication aims to provide commentary on the article and further discuss the importance of establishing IAQ standards. Citing a lack of legislated standards globally, the authors propose numerical limits for four IAQ parameters: particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ventilation rate (VR). While recognizing that most of the countries do not have any mandatory IAQ standards, it is also noteworthy that IAQ regulations or guidelines exist in more than 40 countries. We like to emphasize that successful IAQ management requires recognizing, sharing, and reviewing openly available, existing regulations and guidelines, while adapting them to regional characteristics. Corrigendum https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indenv.2025.100075: The authors regret that the CRediT authorship contribution statement was only partially included in the article. The correct statement is available at the link above. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Database Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Database Databases Guidelines IAQ Indoor Air Pollutants Indoor Air Quality Indoor Environments Particulates Regulations Standards
• ISSN:
  2950-3620
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Dallas Region [OSHA] ; Oklahoma ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA] ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  RHD - Respiratory Health Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  2
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070704
• Citation:
  Indoor Environ 2025 Mar; 2(1):100070
• Contact Point Address:
  Ulla Haverinen-Shaughnessy, Civil Engineering Research Unit, Faculty of Technology, The University of Oulu, Finland
• Email:
  ulla.haverinen-shaughnessy@oulu.fi
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Indoor Environments
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:388df2be18b8ad23dbbcac0fac50d6534bf2a67f42188765d2bca7eb574b8503a1b9b3dddd6b1e4d72db02c50db3a165fbddf747df751743a11a62ec6c2a01e1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208878/cdc_208878_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.00 MB ]