Conference on indoor air quality, experts seek framing of guidelines

A conference was organised Friday to discuss the health impacts of indoor air pollution with experts calling for framing guidelines on indoor air quality.

The meet, organised by the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and air conditioning engineers (ISHRAE) in collaboration with Society for Indoor Environment (SIE) and Indoor Air Quality Association - USA Chapter (IAQA) , was attended by experts and environmentalists and who brainstormed on how to combat indoor air pollution.

Speaking at the conference an IIT professor said there was a need to set up indoor air quality guidelines for better management and health risk assessment.

"Indoor air has been researched at individual and institutional levels. We need to have reference cohort studies along with cohorts that pave a way towards generating data in setting up of IAQ guidelines in the field of indoor environment for better management and health risk assessment," said Mukesh Khare, the Department of civil engineering IIT Delhi.

 

A statement released by the SIE said, "With more than 90 per cent of time being spent indoor, the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) plays an important role in maintaining the health, wellbeing, & productivity of individuals especially in urban areas."

SIE President Prasad Modak said indoor environment is an area that is not currently well addressed in India.

"It is surprising that India does not have standards for indoor air quality even today. Studies on the assessment of health impacts due to indoor air pollution have been rather scant and there are no third party certifications to know the efficacy of indoor air pollution control equipment.

National guidelines on the subject of Indoor Air Quality need to be framed by involving green builders, architects, air ventilation experts, paint manufacturers, furniture makers and other stake holders, said ISHRAE in a press note.

ISHRAE with 42 chapters all across India, having more than 12,000 members and 10,000 student members works on promoting indoor environmental quality and has already come up with IEQ Standard which has been adopted by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), it said.