Use of a sensory irritation potential index to characterize improvement of indoor air quality in French schools by ventilation

After several cases of health problems in French schools, a methodology for health riskassessment related to indoor air quality (IAQ) was required. Based on measuredconcentrations in schools where acute symptoms possibly due to exposure to airborne sensoryirritants were reported, an index quantifying the sensory irritation potential was built andused. This paper focuses on one classroom where the index was successively applied withoutany ventilation system, after the implementation of passive ventilation grids and with amechanically controlled ventilation. The decrease of the index value was correlated with animproved IAQ perception by pupils and teachers since no complaint occurred any longer. Itshows the ventilation efficiency in removing irritating volatile organic compounds (VOCs)and the validity of our IAQ irritant potential index.