Indoor Air Quality

Workplace IAQ

Fragrance Free Policies
General Resources
  • Added Feb Preventing worker illness from indoor pesticide exposure
    http://cdph.ca.gov/programs/ohsep/Pages/IndoorPest.aspx (CDPH)
    >  California Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Branch offers fact sheets and other educational materials about indoor pesticide use

  • NIOSH Alert: Preventing Occupational Respiratory Disease from Exposures Caused by Dampness in Office Buildings, Schools, and Other Nonindustrial Buildings
    http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2013-102/ (NIOSH)
    >  Office buildings, schools, and other nonindustrial buildings may develop moisture and dampness problems from roof and window leaks, high indoor humidity, and flooding events, among other things. For this Alert, we define "dampness" as the presence of unwanted and excessive moisture in buildings [AIHA 2008].

  • Office Environment and Worker Safety & Health
    http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/officeenvironment/?s_cid=3ni7d2fb101120110330pm (NIOSH)
    >  Maintaining a healthy office environment requires attention to chemical hazards, equipment and work station design, physical environment (temperature, humidity, light, noise, ventilation, and space), task design, psychological factors (personal interactions, work pace, job control) and sometimes, chemical or other environmental exposures.

  • IAQ in Large Buildings: Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) Study
    http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/ (EPA)
    >  EPA conducted the Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) study. The BASE study used a standardized protocol to collect extensive indoor air quality data from one hundred randomly selected public and commercial office buildings in thirty-seven cities and twenty-five states.

  • OSHA Safety and Health Topics: Indoor Air Quality
    http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/indoorairquality/index.html (OSHA)
    >  The purpose of this webpage is to give workers and employers useful, up-to-date information to identify, correct, and prevent IAQ problems.

  • OSHA Safety and Health Topics: Indoor Air Quality
    http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/indoorairquality/index.html (OSHA)
    >  The purpose of this webpage is to give workers and employers useful, up-to-date information to identify, correct, and prevent IAQ problems

  • Indoor Air Quality in Commercial and Institutional Buildings (2011) (PDF)
    http://www.osha.gov/Publications/3430indoor-air-quality-sm.pdf (OSHA)
    >  This document addresses common topics related to indoor air quality in commercial buildings including: sources of air pollutions, prevention or control of IAQ problems, and applicable standards along with various checklists.

  • Indoor Air Quality - An Introduction to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
    http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html (EPA)
    >  This page provided by the Environmental Protection Agency addresses sources, health effects, levels in homes, steps to reduce, standards or guidelines and additional resources that relate to VOCs.

  • Indoor Air Quality
    http://www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/Topics/AtoZ/IndoorAir/default.asp (Washington Department of Labor and Industries)
    >  Every year, WISHA receives numerous inquiries and complaints from employees and employers alike on the subject of indoor air quality (IAQ) in the workplace. This document addresses questions and answers on indoor air quality.

  • Air Quality in the Workplace
    http://www.lungusa.org/healthy-air/work/ (ALA)
    >  American Lung Association Topic Page with documents on air quality in large buildings, duct cleaning, carpet, occupational hazards, air cleaning devices, smoking policies and specific indoor pollutants.

  • Building Air Quality Action Plan
    http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/98-123a.html (NIOSH)
    >  To promote the use of these straightforward practices to improve IAQ, EPA and other leaders in the IAQ field developed this 8-step Building Air Quality Action Plan (BAQ Action Plan). This additional resource meets the needs of building owners and managers who want an easy-to-understand path for taking their building from current conditions and practices to the successful institutionalization of good IAQ management practices.

  • NIOSH Safety and Health Topic: Indoor Environmental Quality
    http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/indoorenv/ (NIOSH)
    >  "Indoor Environmental Quality," as the name implies, simply refers to the quality of the air in an office or other building environment. "Sick Building Syndrome" is a term many people use to convey a wide range of symptoms they believe can be attributed to the building itself. Workers typically implicate the workplace environment because their symptoms are alleviated when they leave the office.

  • OSHA Safety and Health Topics: Indoor Air Quality
    http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/indoorairquality/ (OSHA)
    >  Complaints about IAQ range from simple complaints such as the air smelling odd to more complex, where the air quality causes illness and lost work time. It may not be easy to identify a single reason for IAQ complaints because of the number and variety of possible sources, causes, and varying individual sensitivities. The following questions link to resources that provide safety and health information relevant to indoor air quality.

  • EPA Indoor Air Quality Home Page
    http://www.epa.gov/iaq/ (EPA)
    >  Includes access to Environmental Protection Agency documents on indoor air quality, mold, radon, asthma and more.

  • I-BEAM Text Modules: Fundamentals of IAQ in Buildings
    http://www.epa.gov/iaq/largebldgs/i-beam/text/fundamentals_of_iaq.html (EPA)
    >  This module provides the fundamentals to understanding indoor air quality. It provides a rudimentary framework for understanding how indoor and outdoor sources of pollution, heat and humidity, together with the ventilation and air conditioning systems affect the indoor air quality in buildings.

Investigation Guidance