267594
Indoor environmental quality complaints to state health departments: The unrecognized challenge
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
: 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM
Nancy Goff, MPH
,
Environmental Health, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), Arlington, VA
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) complaints are commonly presented to state and local health authorities. There is no systematic surveillance associated with these complaints, in part because of an absence of specific regulatory authority or prevention activities, and in part because of an absence of resources to address the complaints. Beginning in January of 2011, 15 state health departments catalogued the location, hazard, health concerns, and outcomes associated with IEQ complaints, as well as the resources required to respond to the complaints. The participating states represented a broad cross-section of the country by location, degree of urbanization, size, and presence or absence of specific programs or authority to respond to IEQ complaints. The results show considerable state-to-state variation in the proportion of complaints that come from private residences, rental properties, schools, businesses, and government buildings. Preliminary analysis showed that the most frequent complaints involved sanitation, radon (only in some states), lead, mold, and asbestos, followed by other chemical, physical, and biological hazards. The most frequent health concerns involved cancer, lead poisoning, allergies, asthma, and carbon monoxide exposure. Many complaints could be successfully resolved even without specific authority, but there were significant aggregate costs in personnel resources required to resolve the issues. We discuss the implications and need for authority and resources required to respond to IEQ complaints.
Learning Areas:
Environmental health sciences
Public health or related public policy
Learning Objectives: 1. Identify the number and variety of complaints referred to state health departments related to indoor environmental quality
2. Discuss federal and state resources currently available to state health departments for management of indoor environmental quality
3. Describe strategies available to state and local health departments to partner with other entities to better manage complaints related to indoor environmental quality
Keywords: Environmental Health, Indoor Environment
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the designer of the project and survey instrument, collated and analyzed the results of the survey, prepared the abstract and presentation. I have previous publications and research in the field of indoor environments and environmental health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
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