Indoor Air Quality: Chemical and Biological Impacts in Public Schools

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Indoor Air QualityChemical and Biological
Impacts in Public Schools
Dr. Gary Rodabaugh, CHMM (Master) Ferris State
University

• Responding To A New Environment
• Emergency Response at Schools of Public Health
• September 9-10, 2002

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Dr. Gary Rodabaugh, CHMM

• Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (Master
  Level)
• Professor Environmental Health and Safety
  Management Program
• Ferris State University
• 200 Ferris Drive, VFS 300
• Big Rapids, Michigan 49307
• Ph 231-591-2308, FAX [phone]
• Rodabaugh_at_ferris.edu

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Dr. Gary Rodabaugh, CHMM

• Background
• Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (Master)
• Professor of Industrial Hygiene, Hazardous
  Materials Management, Industrial Safety
• 15 years in construction
• Avid sportsman
• Licensed Ontario Gold Prospector

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History/Background

• IAQ was not an issue when buildings had lots of
  ventilation via leaks and lack of insulation.
• Energy efficient buildings without windows that
  open initiated much of the problem identified as
  sick building syndrome.
• Average business building, hotel relies heavily
  on recirculated air.

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History/Background

• Since recirculated air is expensive to heat/cool,
  minimal or no fresh air is available to
  occupants.
• Rarely the 15-20 cfm per occupant required for
  basic health and occupant comfort.

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History/Background

• Lack of air circulation, humidity control,
  decreasing quality of structural design/building
  increases possibility of the combination of
  moisture/temperature/nutrients that are the
  direct cause of our current problems with
  microbiological contaminants and IAQ.
• Chemical contaminants also an issue because of
  lack of ventilation.
• Chemicals used in the lab, cleaning or
  maintenance are often distributed throughout the
  structure via the recirculating ventilation
  system.

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Typical Recirculating System
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The Issue

• How do you respond to public buildings where more
  than 20 of the occupants report health problems
  that seem to go away when they leave the
  building?
• How do you respond to irate parents when their
  children have difficulty breathing, sinus
  infections, breathing problems, upper respiratory
  infections and rashes?

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The Typical Responses

• Denial
• Its all in their heads no one else is
  complaining
• Placation
• Run inadequate air tests with poorly trained
  staff and say the air is OK.
• Pass the buck
• not our problem
• Contractor installed something wrong
• Someone used wrong materials
• Kid was sick before he/she got here

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What are the Risks?

• Risk calculations are always risky when dealing
  with the public.
• Explaining that the risk is 11000 or that there
  is very little risk does not satisfy the
  average parent of a sick child.
• Lets look at some of the very real risks
  associated with microbiological and chemical
  exposures in public buildings.

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Microbiological Risks

• Loss of productivity through illness, discomfort
• Increased sick time and absenteeism
• Debilitating illness in some individuals
• Increased risk of disease/death in sensitized
  individuals

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Microbiological Risks

• Symptomolgy that may include headaches, nausea,
  upper respiratory illnesses/infections,
  difficulty breathing, malaise, irritated eyes and
  many other symptoms.
• Often called sick building syndrome

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Chemical Risks

• Chemical related illnesses
• Some well known disorders such as benzene induced
  leukemia or sensitization to isocyanates
• Symptomology often easier to track because of
  symptoms associated with specific chemical
  exposures are usually well documented.
• For example, skin rash, headaches, dizziness,
  unable to concentrate, difficulty breathing
  associated with many VOCs.

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• Actual vs Perceived Risk

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Microbiological

• Actual remember, we are surrounded by fungi and
  bacteria virtually everywhere we go.
• As a species, we have developed tolerances to
  most of them.

• Ganoderma sp. is commonly found in many IAQ
  samples

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Microbiological

• However, we now often live in caves for long
  periods of time rather than spending most of our
  waking hours outside.
• New types of fungi in higher concentrations, in
  an enclosed space spell trouble.

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Microbiological

• Actual Risk
• Depends on the individual exposed and the
  microbiological agent in question.
• Depends on the mixture of micro agents
• Depends on the sensitivity of the individual to
  the microbiologicals in question
• Many people may live in a house and only one
  person be impacted negatively by the exposures.

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Microbiological

• Actual Risk (cont.)
• Hundreds of people in a building may be exposed
  and only a select few have problems too easy to
  dismiss this group
• Dont forget to evaluate bacterial exposures as
  well as fungal. Although fungi get the press,
  bacteria can present extreme hazards under some
  circumstances. (Legionella)

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Microbiological

• Perceived Risk
• Black mold scare common now, although not all
  black mold is the toxic type (Stachybotrys)
• Since symptoms are often difficult to connect to
  exposure, people think all symptoms are related
  to their work environment

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Microbiological

• Perceived Risk (cont.)
• Headlines like Toxic Mold Found in Elementary
  School create unreasonable anticipation of harm,
  among parents and concerned citizens.
• Public not well informed and thinks all mold is
  bad
• Mold/bacteria always make people sick

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Chemical

• Actual Risk
• Many chemicals extremely toxic and well known to
  cause extreme health effects
• Although many chemicals create immediate/acute
  reactions to exposure, many chronic exposures
  cause chemical-related diseases that may take
  years/decades to manifest themselves

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Actual vs Perceived Risk Chemical

• Perceived Risk
• better living through chemistry
• bought it at WalMart, must be safe!
• if it was bad, the government wouldnt let them
  sell it

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Response process Public Information and
Industrial Hygiene

• Public Information
• Communicate actual risk
• Communicate that most individuals are not at risk
  but that sensitive individuals may be at much
  greater risk than the general population. Though
  they are in the minority, their issues cannot be
  ignored.
• Provide interpretations/information on specific
  microbiologicals where possible.
• Provide information on specific chemicals of
  concern where possible.

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Response process Public Information and
Industrial Hygiene

• Industrial Hygiene
• Microbiologicals
• Use AirOCells for survey work
• Use swabs to identify genus species (always go to
  species because some genera have very toxic and
  non-toxic representatives, depending on species)
• Use Anderson samplers (pulls air past agar plates
  to grow out microorganisms)

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Response process Public Information and
Industrial Hygiene

• Industrial Hygene (Cont.)
• Use resources like those listed here to determine
  health effects
• Atlas of Clinical Fungi (2nd ed), ISBN
  90-70351-43-9
• Manual of Clinical Microbiology (7th ed), ISBN
  1-55581-126-4
• Manual of Environmental Microbiology, ISBN
  1-55581-087-X
• Sick Buildings, ISBN 0-87371-346-X
• Bioaerosols Assessment and Control, ISBN
  882417-29-1

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Response process Public Information and
Industrial Hygiene

• Industrial Hygene (Cont.)
• Some Internet Resources
• http//www.bio.psu.edu/people/faculty/whittam/apdb
  ase/fungus.html
• http//www.emlab.com/app/fungi/Fungi.pojsessionid
  abNE4eOQunu6uWytqAZcFejF(2A8c5iMo)
• http//www.doctorfungus.org/
• http//www.botany.utoronto.ca/researchlabs/malloch
  lab/malloch/moulds/Index_of_Descriptions.html
• http//www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/index.html
• http//www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/tfs/guidtoc.html
• http//www.dehs.umn.edu/iaq/fungus/
• http//www.emsl.com/mold_testing.html
• http//www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidest.html
• http//www.epa.gov/iaq/molds/moldguide.htmlMold2
  0Basics

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Response process Public Information and
Industrial Hygiene

• Industrial Hygene (Cont.)
• Chemicals
• If exact chemical is known, IH testing is
  relatively straightforward. IH can select and
  implement appropriate testing and interpretation.
• If exact chemical is not known, such as strange
  odors or symptoms without identified origin of
  exposure, TDT scans can be used.
• You can get more information about TDT scans at
  http//www.pati-air.com/index.html

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Public Health Infrastructure

•        

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Public Health Infrastructure

• Rarely prepared on a local level to deal with
  chronic/acute chemical or biological exposures.
• Few trained industrial hygienists in public
  health.
• Public health departments rarely have access to
  proper testing equipment or the training to use
  it.

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Public Health Infrastructure

• Laboratory analysis is not normally available
  locally
• Accredited laboratories are expensive and can
  quickly deplete local budgets. Average
  investigation cost for a residence is 1,000 (4
  AirOCells _at_ 60 ea, 4 swabs for bacteria/fungus _at_
  140 ea plus consultant labor).
• Average cost for business is 3,000-10,000.

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• Curriculum Design

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IAQ Training

• One excellent source of IAQ training for public
  health workers is the American Council of
  Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)
• This group provides training on ventilation, IAQ,
  air sampling and many other IH topics.
• (http//www.acgih.org/home.htm)

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Recommended Curriculum

• IAQ inspection techniques (8 hours)
• Building structure and leak points
• Problem building materials
• Problem building techniques
• Common locations of microbiological materials
• Common locations for chemical contaminants

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Recommended Curriculum (cont.)

• Health effects (8 hours)
• Health effects from chemical exposure
• Health effects of microbiological materials

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Recommended Curriculum (cont.)

• Measurement and sampling techniques (12 hours)
• Moisture meters
• AirOCell samplers
• TDT scan tubes
• Charcoal tubes
• Anderson Sampling
• Swab samples

• Microbiological VOC sampling
• Relative humidity
• Carbon dioxide as indicator of fresh air
  entrainment
• Carbon monoxide sampling
• Blueprint reading HVAC systems
• Use of Velometer to verify air flow

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Recommended Curriculum (cont.)

• Litigation (4 hours)
• Working with attorneys
• Sampling, labeling, shipping and chain of custody
  for environmental samples
• Giving testimony
• Standards of care in legal cases
• Lack of laws on environmental exposure to mold in
  industrial setting
• Lack of laws on exposure to chemical/mold in
  residential environments

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Recommended Curriculum (cont.)

• Remediation technologies (8 hours)
• Protecting workers
• Protecting occupants
• Standard operating procedures
• Technologies
• Encapsulation
• Removal
• Isolation
• Replacement

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Environmental Economics

• The impact of bioaerosols, mold, bacteria and/or
  chemical exposure in public buildings is likely
  to be very costly.
• One school in Michigan paid over 50,000 in
  consulting fees and 200,000 in remediation.

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Environmental Economics

• Another school has been charged over 1 Million
  dollars when they made the mistake of awarding a
  no bid contract to a company with limited
  expertise.
• With no bid criteria, no supervision, no limits,
  no contract and no clue, the school was sued for
  over 1,000,000 by the contractor and
  consultants.
• The issue is still not resolved (lawyers are
  everywhere!)

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• Sample Symptoms from
• Exposure to Fungal Species

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Aspergillus sp.

• Extrinisic asthma cough, wheezing, chills,
  malaise, aches, pains, eosinophilia similar to
  asthma caused by dander or pollen
• Extrinsic alergic alveolitis chronic occurs in
  people with repeated exposure cough,
  dyspnea,fever, chills, ronchi but not wheezing
  no peripheral eosiophilia

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Aspergillus sp.

• Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis symptoms
  similar to asthma, but more chronic and severe

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Penicillium spp.

• Rare human infections symptoms would be
  bronchopulmonary (pneumonia) keratitis
  peritonitis
• May cause problems for those allergic to
  Penicillium.

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Aspergillus/Penicillium

• These species are often found growing together.

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Cladosporium sp.

• Very common, especially air, decaying vegetation,
  food contaminant opportunist
• Uncommon human pathogen

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Alteraria

• Opportunistic pathogens particularly in patients
  with immunosuppression Cases of onychomycosis,
  sinusitis, ulcerated cutaneous infections, and
  keratitis, as well as visceral infections and
  osteomyelitis due to Alternaria have been
  reported.
• Most commonly associated with Sinusitis, asthma

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Stachybotrys

• Most infections are associated with hayfever-like
  symptoms some strains produce mycotoxins
  adverse effects on the central nervous system,
  eyes, skin, and upper and lower respiratory
  tract, and, possibly, chronic fatigue.

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Stachybotrys

• Other adult symptoms are immune suppression,
  bleeding and adverse reproduction effects most
  serious diseases associated with S. chartarum
  (atra).

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Documents on CD

• List of health impacts of several different
  bacterial and fungal species found in indoor and
  outdoor environments.
• See next few pages for more information on CD
  contents.

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Building action plan
Building air quality checklist
Adobe reader
Tools for Schools
Bacteria fungus list
Classroom activities
IAQ case studies
Pittsburgh
IAQ software
This report
Building occupants guide
Building air quality
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Mold remediation techniques
Ozone generators as air cleaners
IAQ Newsletter
Indoor air quality guide
QA on IAQ
Ventilation and air quality in offices
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Dr. Gary Rodabaugh

• Professor Environmental Health and Safety
  Management Program
• Ferris State University
• 200 Ferris Drive, VFS 300
• Big Rapids, Michigan 49307
• Ph 231-591-2308, FAX [phone]
• Rodabaugh_at_ferris.edu