INVESTIGATION OF AIR POLLUTION IN LARGE-SCALE BUILDINGS AND OF EMPLOYEES’ PERSONAL EXPOSURE LEVEL

Recently, a big change in indoor air environment has been recognized. This new problem is caused byhigh air tightness, high adiabatic and newly building material, and has been the cause of healthproblems which is called Sick Building Syndrome. This study has been conducted to understand thepresent state of indoor air pollution by chemical pollutions in 23 Japanese large-scale buildings to beopen for public people. We also investigated the personal exposure level of employees under theperiod of working at the above-mentioned building and of staying at individual houses. The measuredchemicals were 32 kinds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde. Thechemicals were collected by a personal passive sampler. Mean outdoor concentration of formaldehydewas approximately 12 ppb, whereas indoor concentration was 18 ppb. Mean personal exposure levelswere 38 ppb and 52 ppb at the shopping store and individual houses, respectively. Acetaldehyde wasalmost half level of formaldehyde at each point. The mean indoor concentrations of toluene,1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, and decane were 8.4, 5.0, and 6.4 ppb, respectively. Other ones were lessthan 5 ppb. The level of personal exposure generally had the same tendency with indoor air pollutionlevel.