PM2.5 and ozone in office environments and their potential impact on human health

Murnira Othman; Mohd Talib Latif; Chong Zin Yee; Lina Khalida Norshariffudin; Azliyana Azhari; Nor Diana Abdul Halim; Azwani Alias; Nurzawani Md Sofwan; Haris Hafizal Abd Hamid; Yutaka Matsumi

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110432

PM_2.5 and ozone in office environments and their potential impact on human health

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2020 May:194:110432. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110432. Epub 2020 Mar 10.

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: murnira@ukm.edu.my.
² Department of Earth Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
³ UKMPakarunding Sdn. Bhd, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁴ Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Earth Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak Branch, Samarahan Campus, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.
⁶ Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Earth Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁷ Institute for Space-Earth Environment Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.

PMID: 32169727
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110432

Abstract

It is important to have good indoor air quality, especially in indoor office environments, in order to enhance productivity and maintain good work performance. This study investigated the effects of indoor office activities on particulate matter of less than 2.5 μm (PM_2.5) and ozone (O₃) concentrations, assessing their potential impact on human health. Measurements of indoor PM_2.5 and O₃ concentrations were taken every 24 h during the working days in five office environments located in a semi-urban area. As a comparison, the outdoor concentrations were derived from the nearest Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Station. The results showed that the average 24 h of indoor and outdoor PM_2.5 concentrations were 3.24 ± 0.82 μg m^-3 and 17.4 ± 3.58 μg m^-3 respectively, while for O₃ they were 4.75 ± 4.52 ppb and 21.5 ± 5.22 ppb respectively. During working hours, the range of PM_2.5 concentrations were 1.00 μg m^-3 to 6.10 μg m^-3 while for O₃ they were 0.10 ppb to 38.0 ppb. The indoor to outdoor ratio (I/O) for PM_2.5 and O₃ was <1, thus indicating a low infiltration of outdoor sources. The value of the hazard quotient (HQ) for all sampling buildings was <1 for both chronic and acute exposures, indicating that the non-carcinogenic risks are negligible. Higher total cancer risk (CR) value for outdoors (2.67E-03) was observed compared to indoors (4.95E-04) under chronic exposure while the CR value for acute exposure exceeded 1.0E-04, thus suggesting a carcinogenic PM_2.5 risk for both the indoor and outdoor environments. The results of this study suggest that office activities, such as printing and photocopying, affect indoor O₃ concentrations while PM_2.5 concentrations are impacted by indoor-related contributions.

Keywords: Health risk assessment; Mechanical ventilation; Office environment; Ozone; PM(2.5).

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants, Occupational / analysis*
Air Pollution, Indoor / analysis*
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Humans
Malaysia
Ozone / analysis*
Particle Size
Particulate Matter / analysis*
Risk Assessment

Substances

Air Pollutants, Occupational
Particulate Matter
Ozone