Formaldehyde in occupied and unoccupied caravans in Australia.

A study of 132 unoccupied and 60 occupied caravans was conducted to determine levels of formaldehyde and factors which may affect these levels. Repeat monitoring was carried out 6 months later in 50 of the occupied caravans. A questionnaire was also used to assess potential factors associated with the recorded levels. Mean formaldehyde levels of 100 ppb in unoccupied caravans and 29 ppb in occupied caravans were recorded. A negative correlation was found between formaldehyde levels and the age of caravans.

Characterisation of gas phase organic emissions from hot cooking oil in commercial kitchens.

A large quantity of oily fumes is generated in fast food and Chinese restaurants from cooking oil kept at a high temperature in the kitchens. If these oily fumes are not properly abated, they can be a major source of organic emissions in some dense urban areas with a lot of restaurants such as found in Hong Kong. In the present study, the most commonly used cooking oil, peanut oil, was kept at 260°C in an environment typical of a commercial kitchen that consisted of a two-burner stir-frying cooking range, a single-tank electric fryer, a baffle-type grease extractor and an exhaust duct.

A study of area and personal airborne asbestos samples during abatement in a crawl space.

Air sample data were collected during asbestos abatement of two buildings using area and personal sampling methods. Abatement involved removal of pipe insulation from crawl spaces. The two sampling methods were compared to determine if there was a relationship between them. A relationship was observed between area and personal airborne samples in building 2 as determined by correlation and regression but is most likely due to chance. One major outlier was detected for both area and personal measurement sample data sets in building 2.

Engineering the control of airborne pathogens.

                    

The changing face of tuberculosis: a new challenge to the developing world.

The modern era of tuberculosis began in the mid 1980s. At that time it was realised that tuberculosis had not only ceased to decline in many developed countries, notably the USA, but was actually increasing. This forced health services to look more closely at the problem of tuberculosis. It was realised that the disease was out of control across most of the poorest regions of the world, especially Central Africa and South Asia. It was for this reason that in 1993 the WHO took the unique step of declaring tuberculosis to be a world emergency.

Attached garages and indoor air quality.

We spend 90% of our time indoors, so we have to consider how a home's design and construction can affect indoor air quality. To achieve superior indoor air quality it is important to:

  • remove any contaminants at the source of production;
  • reduce the contaminants built into the house;
  • exchange the indoor air with.fresh outdoor air.

MRSA in hospitals - what can be done?

                        

Should you get your heating ducts cleaned?

                      

A survey of environmental tobacco smoke controls in California office buildings.

A survey of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) controls in California office buildings was carried out to obtain information on 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.

Pages