Developing a Resource Tool to Help Researchers, Public Health Officials and Policy Makers Better Understand the Baseline Level of Organic Chemicals Indoors

Often research of indoor air quality (IAQ) focuses on evaluating problem buildings where occupants have significant complaints or identification of health impacts from specific sources suspected of causing problems. However, there has been little research on typical contaminant levels or occupant perceptions in non-complaint buildings (i.e., buildings in which occupants did not complain that their health problems were believed to be related to their indoor environment) to use as a point of comparison. To address this data gap, the US Environmental Protection Agency's Indoor Environments Division (IED) collected IAQ data from randomly selected non-complaint office buildings across the U.S. as part of the Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) study. Information collected has been used as inputs for models, testing factors for scenarios of emergency preparedness and response and for direct comparison to levels in a problem area. However, a gap still exists with respect to typical levels in other building types such as homes and schools. Therefore, IED developed a database for typical levels of organic chemicals in indoor environments. This database combines data from studies in various building types to create a more comprehensive database on typical concentrations of organic chemicals indoors. The database allows users to quickly generate descriptive statistics regarding typical or baseline concentrations of organic chemicals in indoor environments. This presentation describes study inclusion criteria, database structure, statistics generated, initial plans for use database and potential for expansion to include more studies and other contaminants.