Indoor air quality investigation of the school environment and estimated health risks: Two-season measurements in primary schools in Kozani, Greece

Özet

Two primary schools and one kindergarten were selected in the city of Kozani, Greece in order toinvestigate the school environment, the indoor air pollutants that children are exposed to and possiblehealth risks at school. In each school three classrooms and one outdoor position were monitored fromMonday to Friday, in both non-heating (26/09/2011e14/10/2011) and heating (23/01/2012e10/02/2012)period. Temperature, relative humidity and CO2, were continuously monitored. Formaldehyde, benzene,trichloroethylene, pinene, limonene, NO2 and O3 were measured with diffusive samplers. CO wasmonitored every day (30 min/day). Radon was measured for four weeks with short term radon detectors.PM2.5 was gravimetrically determined while PM2.5 and PM10 fractions were measured using the opticallight scattering technique. Building material emission testing for VOCs was performed using the Fieldand Laboratory Emission Cell (FLEC). The ventilation rate for each classroom was calculated based on theCO2 measurements.Results indicated that indoor air concentrations of the measured pollutants were within acceptedlimits with indicative ranges 1.5e9.4 mg/m3 for benzene, 2.3e28.5 mg/m3 for formaldehyde, 4.6e43 mg/m3 for NO2 and 0.1e15.6 mg/m3 for O3. Emissions from building materials seem to have a significantcontribution to the indoor air quality. Very low ventilation rates (0.1e3.7 L/s per person) were observed,indicating inadequate ventilation and possible indoor air quality problems requiring intervention measures.The estimated average lifetime cancer risks for benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene werevery low.