Safety and Security of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
Abstract
Sick buildings throughout the nation have been vacated, demol-
ished, or totally refurbished at costs that often exceed the original cost of
the building because of indoor air quality (IAQ) issues. A valuable com-
mercial building in South Florida sits vacant today because it’s contami-
nated with anthrax. New exclusions are appearing on insurance con-
tracts for architects, engineers, and contractors, as well as homeowners—
mold, an IAQ issue. IAQ is today becoming one of the biggest concerns of
a building’s occupants, its owners, and its managers, as well as archi-
tects, engineers, and the construction industry. The recent increase in liti-
gation related to mold, an IAQ issue, combined with the September 11 th
attacks and the bioterrorism events of the following October, has raised
the issue of building air quality safety to the highest level.
While IAQ and mold issues are today not regulated by govern-
mental agencies, building owners, managers, design professionals, and
constructors are being held responsible for the health and safety of the
air quality in buildings. Both OSHA and EPA have established guide-
lines and recommendations related to IAQ issues, and several organiza-
tions, including CDC, NIOSH, and USACE, are in the process of devel-
oping guidelines for “protecting” a building’s indoor air quality. Today,
it is absolutely essential that those responsible for buildings take actions
to ensure that workplace air quality is maintained so as to be safe and
secure from health hazards.
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https://aeeeuropeenergy.com/
