4.3 Million Deaths a Year Occur Because of Bad Indoor Air Quality

Do you know that 4.3 million deaths a year occur because of bad indoor air quality?

According to the President of Allergy and Immunology Association Malaysia, Dr. Amir Hamzah Abdul Latiff, 30 – 40% of Malaysian suffers from sinusitis allergy because of poor indoor air quality. Indoor air quality, often associated with Sick Building Syndrome has recently become an issue to building occupants around the world. What is sick building syndrome? Well, according to Dr. Juliana Jalaludin, Head of Environmental Health Science from University Putra Malaysia (UPM), a building can be categorized as ‘sick’ if more than 30% from its occupants complained suffering from the following symptoms :- headache, eyesore, sneezing, cough and shortness of breath, but most of the symptoms may be lost when the complaint leaving the building². Other than that, sick building syndrome also can be detected by observing the structure of the building, especially on walls if one can observe moisture or fungal mark on it.

High Relative Humidity and uncontrolled temperature in a building, can lead to bacterial and fungus growth that in turn might cause allergies, respiratory health effect and asthma to its occupants.

There are many factors that contribute to indoor air pollution such as poor ventilation, floor cleaning, rubbish accumulation, carpeting, fresh air intake point, high number of occupants, pest control activities, renovation, furniture, housekeeping, etc.. the list just goes on!

First thing first, it is crucial to do an inspection and gauge the quality of indoor air, especially if you or the building that you occupy are experiencing above symptoms. Using special instruments, 11 main elements which are temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, dust, total volatile organic compound, air movement, formaldehyde, bacterial and fungal count will be analyze and measured. These readings are then compared against limits in The Malaysian Industry Code of Practice for Indoor Air Quality or American Society for Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning Engineers.