California Interagency Working Group on Indoor Air Quality
Meeting Notes
December 11, 2002
Department of Health Services Laboratory Facility
2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley
California Air Resources Board / IAQ & Personal Exposure Assessment Program
California Department of Health Service / Environmental Health Investigations Branch
California Department of Health Service / Indoor Air Quality Section
California Department of Health Service / Occupational Health Branch
California Department of Health Service / Tobacco Control Section
California Department of Industrial Relations (Cal/OSHA)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / Indoor Environments Program
Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment / Indoor Air Risk Assessment Group
U.S. EPA Region IX / Indoor Environment Team
ACOEM Position Paper on Indoor Mold Health Effects. The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) issued a position paper entitled, Adverse Human Health Effects Associated with Molds in the Indoor Environment. The paper is listed on ACOEM’s Evidence-Based Statements, and its stated goal is to discuss “the state of scientific knowledge as to the nature of fungal-related illnesses while emphasizing the possible relationships to indoor environments. Particular attention is given to the possible health effects of mycotoxins, which give rise to much of the concern and controversy surrounding indoor molds.” The paper can be found on-line at the ACOEM web site at http://www.acoem.org/guidelines/article.asp?ID=52.
Laboratory Measurements of the Fundamental Performance of
Household Vacuum Cleaners (HVC) in Lead Dust Removal from Real World Flooring
Surfaces
by
Stephen Wall, Ph.D.
Chief, Outdoor Air Quality
DHS Environmental Health Laboratory
A laboratory study was conducted as part of a
research study to investigate the use of inexpensive household vacuum cleaners
(HVCs) to remove and retain lead dust from hard surface floors in order to
achieve EPA-established clearance levels <40 ug/ft2. Lead cleaning performance for inexpensive
canister, shop, and upright HVC models was compared with an expensive High
Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter vacuum, and wet-wash treatment. Airborne lead dust emissions from the HVCs
was measured to assess the necessity of employing the more expensive HEPA
filter vacuum to prevent lead inhalation exposure. The laboratory study evaluated HVC design features which determine
lead dust cleaning efficiency. Over 20
candidate HVC were screened for laboratory testing based on suction flow
performance measured by a new portable field evaluation device. HVC models were
chosen for the Field Study based on direct measurements of cleaning efficiency
conducted in an environmental chamber, using real-world test dust deposited on
worn vinyl flooring with a sonic dust aerosol generator. The best performing HVCs were determined to
be a Royal canister, Craftsman (16 gallon) shop, and Hoover upright.
The primary predictor of vacuum performance proved
to be the mechanical action of the floor tool brush, as seen it the superior
performance of the canister and upright HVC, which breaks the adhesion of the
lead dust with the flooring. Although lead dust was found to accumulate on the
floor tool brush of the canister HVC, presenting an exposure hazard, simple
water rising was an effective in brush cleaning. Suction air velocity at the
floor tool face was of secondary importance in predicting performance, as
evidenced by the poor performance of the shop and HEPA models without floor
tool brushes. Regular changing of the
HVC filter bag was identified as an important service procedure to maintain
maximum air velocity at the point of cleaning.
-- Peggy Jenkins (mjenkins@arb.ca.gov)
Indoor Air Chemistry: Cleaning Agents, Ozone, and Toxic Air Contaminants. Work began on this study in July 2002. Twenty different cleaning products, selected based on their reactivity, potential for emissions of Toxic Air Contaminants, and presence in the marketplace, have been selected for testing, and screening measurements of their emissions are now underway. The next phase of the project will involve application of the cleaning products in full-size chambers to evaluate primary emissions under realistic circumstances. Contact: Jeff Yanosky (jyanosky@arb.ca.gov).
Monitor Development Project. ARB is collaborating with the California Energy Commission and the State of New York to promote the development and commercialization of low cost, easy-to-use monitors for indoor and outdoor air quality. Sixty-eight pre-proposals have been received in response to a solicitation for proposals, and 19 respondents were further invited to submit full proposals. These full proposals are due to be received in December 2002. Barring any changes due to the state budget situation, it is anticipated that about 3-5 awards will be made from the $1.5 million offering this year. For more information, see http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/icat/solicit.htm . Contact: Peggy Jenkins, mjenkins@arb.ca.gov.
Cal OSHA IAQ Advisory Committee. ARB staff participated in a meeting of this committee in November 2002 to discuss needed revisions to the Cal OSHA regulations for HVAC systems and exhaust ventilation (Title 8, Sec. 5142 and 5143). Additional workshops will be held in 2003. A summary of the California Energy Commission’s proposed building standards for ventilation design and construction was also presented and discussed. Contact: Tom Phillips, tphillip@arb.ca.gov.
AB 1173 (Keeley) requires Indoor Air Quality Report. ARB staff and management met regarding implementation of AB 1173, Keeley, which was signed by the Governor and takes effect in January, 2003. The bill requires ARB to prepare a report to the Legislature on all aspects of indoor air quality in California, to obtain peer review of the report, and to include options for mitigation of indoor pollution in the report. Staff anticipates beginning work on the report in early 2003. The final bill can be viewed at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/asm/ab_1151-1200/ab_1173_bill_20020927_chaptered.html. Contact: Peggy Jenkins,
Technical Assistance: Staff provided assistance to the Health Officer and Environmental Health Director of Kings County regarding an elemental-mercury spill in a local high school due to a broken barometer. At the time of the spill the amount of mercury released was unknown. A private environmental consultant estimated that they recovered approximately 2 pounds of mercury from several classrooms during cleanup efforts. Following consultation with colleagues from the Environmental Health Laboratory (EHLB), the California Air Resources Board (ARB), the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), EHIB staff made recommendations for assessing student exposure and environmental contamination and determining appropriate sampling instrumentation and clearance testing. Staff also advised the county health director regarding mercury biomonitoring methods and their applicability in this specific situation. DTSC offered the services of their School Site Unit to consult and provide oversight of the remediation effort.
Presentations: Staff gave presentations on the current status of building dampness and indoor mold-associated health effects to county health officers and directors of environmental health at their recent combined annual meeting, November 1, 2002, as well as to DHS staff in the Local Public Health Service Section at their annual educational symposium October 9, 2002.
-- Jed Waldman (JWaldman@dhs.ca.gov) http://www.cal‑iaq.org
Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Study. The final phase, a field study in an office building, is being conducted this week in Las Vegas. In addition, we are planning to analyze the 2002 and 2003 CATS and 2002 CTS data. The analysis of the 1999 CTS and 2001 CTS data has been completed. Contact: Leon Alevantis, Lalevant@dhs.ca.gov.
Emissions of Building Materials With High-Recycled Contents. The CIWMB funded DHS to conduct a study to measure emissions of building materials with high recycled -content compared to "standard" products. The study includes phases on products used in school classrooms, state office buildings, and tire-derived [flooring] products. The final report is due in March 2003. Contact: Leon Alevantis, lalevant@dhs.ca.gov .
Federal OSHA’s e-Tool for Legionnaire’s Disease. IAQS is receiving funding from Federal OSHA’s Salt Lake Technical Center to evaluate existing information on the topic of Legionnaire’s Disease (LD) at the OSHA e-Tool website. Currently the information for LD is in a 42-page technical document that users can download and read. The overall goal is to provide OSHA with a review of their current web-product and provide guidance in future content, appearance, and use. Contact: Janet Macher, Jmacher@dhs.ca.gov.
Sierra Radon Surveys: Final report on the California Sierra Radon study, conducted in the Foothill region) is in draft review. The report contains monitoring results of the residential radon survey (1999-2000) and two elementary school surveys (1999-2000 and 2000-2001). Contact: Feng Tsai, Ftsai@dhs.ca.gov.
U.S. EPA’s BASE Study Analyses: New funding received from U.S. EPA for the second year of BASE bioaerosol analysis. Plans include working on the summary statistics of finalized dataset and collaboration with LNBL on the association of dampness and bioaerosol (LBNL study entitled “Symptoms among U.S. office workers and moisture-indicating microorganisms in the EPA BASE Data”) Derek Shendell will join IAQS as a research associate to assist on these analyses. Contact: Janet Macher, Jmacher@dhs.ca.gov
Workshop on Ethical Frameworks. DHS’ Division of Environmental & Occupational Disease Control held an all-day workshop on November 18, 2002 for program managers and many of the research staff in all five DEODC branches, plus guests from OEHHA-ATES. The term “Ethical Frameworks” is intended as shorthand for ways in which research projects produce information that supports the various stakeholders, e.g., utilitarian, libertarian, social justice, etc. The goal of the workshop was to help staff to become more aware of how their work can legitimately involve stakeholders and how its design, transparency and the format of its products can fit the informational needs of stakeholders who adhere to different interests and ethical frameworks. Questions on the workshop can be directed to Christine Arnesen, Carnesen@dhs.ca.gov.
Presentations.
· Science and Policy- Development of California’s Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter by Feng Tsai at the International Aerosol Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 8-13, 2002.
· Bioterrorists Know Microbiology –– Shouldn't You? by Janet Macher: A review for aerosol scientists at the AAAR meeting, Charlotte, NC, Oct. 7, 2002 and a review for environmental health scientists at So. Cal AIHA,Long Beach, CA, Oct. 24, 2002
· Ventilation Standards and Secondhand Smoke by Leon Alevantis for the Tobacco Education & Research Oversight Committee (TEROC), Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 7, 2002.
· Indoor Air Exposure Research and Reducing Indoor Air Exposures in California by Jed Waldman (and Peggy Jenkins, ARB) and California’s Sustainable Building Efforts in State Government: Indoor Air Quality Specifications for Office Furniture Systems and Building Materials by Leon Alevantis (and Hal Levin, Anthony Bernheim, SMWM, and Arnie Sowell, SCSA) at The Role of Human Exposure Assessment in Urban Air Quality Management Workshop, Bonn, Germany, Oct. 14-15, 2002. Organized by the World Health Organization European Centre for Environment & Health; European Commission Joint Research Centre; and European Collaborative Action
Designing Healthy Buildings Course. Jed Waldman (DHS-IAQS) and Rick Diamond (LBNL-IED) will again offer Arch 249x: Designing Healthy Buildings as a 2-credit elective in UC Berkeley’s School of Architecture. The class will meet on Tuesdays, 11 am to 1 pm in Wurster Hall, starting January 21, 2003 . Information and course materials will be posted on the web at http://www.cal-iaq.org/CLASS/.
-- Jim Cone (Jcone@ohb.org), and Liz Katz (Ekatz@dhs.ca.gov) http://www.ohb.gov
From Sept. 2002
Departure of Branch Chief. The
Occupational Health Branch (OHB) bids a reluctant farewell to Dr. Jim Cone on
September 20. Chief of OHB for 5 years,
Dr. Cone conducted indoor air research and investigations in aircraft, schools,
hospitals, offices and other workplaces in his capacity as occupational health
physician. Dr. Cone leaves to start
directing the Office of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology at the New
York City Department of Health. Dr. Barbara Materna, Chief of the Occupational
Lead Poisoning Prevention Program within OHB, has been appointed Acting Chief
of the Branch.
Newsletter Tracking Workplace Injuries & Illnesses. OHB has a new publication called Occupational Health Watch: Tracking California Workplace Injuries & Illnesses. The first issue (Summer 2002) reports on many workplace health and safety issues. The 12-page newsletter can be downloaded at http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ohb/pdf/ohw1.pdf.
-- Joanne Wellman-Benson (JWellman@dhs.ca.gov)
Notes from Sept. 2002
National Conference on Tobacco or Health. The 2002 National Conference on Tobacco or Health will be held in San Francisco from November 19-21, 2002 at the Hilton San Francisco. The seven program areas the conference is organized around are: “Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs or Combined Strategies”, “Evaluation and Surveillance”, “Cessation, Nicotine, and the Science of Addiction”, “Increasing Diversity/Eliminating Disparities”, “Public Policy and Advocacy Strategies”, “Media and Communications Strategies”, and “Tobacco Use Prevention Among Youth.” For more information, go to www.tobaccocontrolconference.org
Secondhand Smoke Workgroup. The Secondhand Smoke workgroup will be developing a Secondhand Smoke “campaign” that will gather existing information on secondhand smoke and compile it for use for TCS-funded programs. The information collected will cover indoor air quality as well as outdoor tobacco smoke. The campaign will include issues such as health effects, policies, bar surveys, smoke-free cars/homes, smoke-free apartments, ventilation, child custody, outdoor entertainment venues, economic data, college/university settings, the military, legal opinions, liability, etc. The Workgroup’s first meeting to determine the course of the campaign will be held on September 26, 2002.
Outdoor Smoking Law. Governor Davis signed into law AB 1867, which prohibits smoking within 25 feet of playgrounds and tot lots. This is an amended version of last year’s bill, AB 188, which prohibited smoking only within the boundaries of the playground or tot lot. This bill also increased the penalty for each violation from $100 to $250.
Campus Smoking Policy. The California State University (CSU) trustees are considering a resolution giving CSU presidents the authority to establish smoking policies on their own campuses. Currently, policies could only be set by the Board of Trustees, as established by state law, which curtailed the adoption of policies developed by students and TCS-funded programs at several of the 23 CSU campuses. State law prevents smoking within 5-feet of building doorways. The advocacy group COUGH (Campuses Organized and United for Good Health) is spearheading the effort, with the goals of having at least a 20-ft smoke-free doorway policy, adoption of a phase-in policy to be smoke-free by August 2004, and to prohibit tobacco sales on all CSU campuses.
- Bob Nakamura (bnakamura@hq.dir.ca.gov) http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/
Revision of the Sanitation standard, GISO 3362. The new subsection (g), now in effect as of September 4, 2002 is as follows:
Title 8, Calif. Code of Regulations; General Industry Safety Orders: Article 9 Sanitation
§3362. General Requirements.
(g) When exterior water intrusion, leakage
from interior water sources, or other uncontrolled accumulation of water
occurs, the intrusion, leakage or accumulation shall be corrected because of
the potential for these conditions to cause the growth of mold.
For information, contact Bob Nakamura at 415-703-5160.
IAQ Advisory Committee. The Division is planning to review IAQ issues. When the first Advisory Committee completed its work, the intent was to await the Federal OSHA standard on IAQ. However, Federal OSHA recently removed IAQ from its long-term agenda. Consequently, the Division plans to review the recurrent issues relating to enforcing regulations that apply to indoor air quality situations. Hence, Cal/OSHA recently reformed its IAQ Advisory Committee.
The first meeting of current committee was held on November 20, 2002, in Oakland. The meeting included a presentation by the California Energy Commission on the proposed changes to the California Energy Code regarding Demand Control Ventilation. The latest draft proposal would make it mandatory for some classrooms and additional assembly occupancies, and would raise the carbon dioxide set point from 800 to 1100 (or 700 above outside CO2). A discussion of the potential effect of utilizing DCV in school buildings followed. CEC has been preparing the proposed changes for the formal rulemaking process that will begin in early 2003. Possible revisions to General Industry Safety Orders 5142 and 5143 were discussed by the Division representatives later in the meeting. Another meeting is tentatively planned for February of 2003.
Meeting notes and more information are available from Bob Nakamura at 415-703-5160 or Deborah Gold at 415-703-5115. For information about the proposed changes to the California Energy Code, contact the CEC via http://www.energy.ca.gov/2005_standards/index.html or call 800-772-3300.
Airborne Contaminants: 8CCR 5155. The Division is continuing to review Threshold Limit Value changes proposed by the ACGIH. The first meeting of the advisory committee was on May 4, 2001. Another meeting will be scheduled soon. The Division coordinator is Bruce Wallace who can be reached at 415-703-5165.
Laboratory Fume Hoods: 8CCR 5154.1. The Division has convened five advisory committee meetings to evaluate two different petitions requesting the Standards Board to reduce ventilation rate requirements and establish a performance standard in place of the existing regulation that relies on face velocity measurements. The last meeting was on August 8th in San Francisco. Another draft proposal was presented and discussed by the attendees but no final proposal was adopted. A revised proposal has been circulated to the members of the committee. The Division coordinator is Bruce Wallace who can be reached at 415-703-5165.
Heat Stress Standard. The Division has held three advisory committee meetings to review the need and issues involved in proposing a standard for heat stress. The last meeting was on February 15, 2002 in Oakland. A draft proposal was reviewed at the meeting, and revisions will be forthcoming based on the outcome of the meeting. For more information, contact Bob Barish at 415-703-5100.
-- Pamela Davis (pdavis@library.ca.gov)
AB 284: Mold Research Update & Stakeholders Forum Information. The commentary draft of the AB 284 mandated review on the effects of mold is in the final stages of preparation for release. Due to an unfortunate computer error (that resulted in the loss of some sections of the draft document), the early December release date has been postponed until the end of the month. The 30-day comment period will begin on the day the draft is released to the public. All comments, including those presented at the stakeholders' forum in January, must be provided in writing.
The stakeholders' forum will take place as originally scheduled on January 13-14, 2003 (tentative agenda below) at the downtown Sacramento Convention Center. Each session will open with an overview of the corresponding section of the report by the author, Pamela Davis, followed by a critique of the section by various Scientific Review Panel (SRP) members.
Interested stakeholders will then be invited to present
their comments; up to 10 minutes will be provided to individual to present an
overview of their written comments. Actual time allowed will depend on the
total number of stakeholders requesting presentation time. If necessary, the
start times of the various sections may be adjusted to allow for more
presentation time during high demand sessions.
Stakeholders' making presentations must provide 15 copies of their
written testimony on the day they deliver their overviews. Commentary must be scientifically based and
relevant to the subject matter.
Individuals and Organizations interested in attending the forum are asked to RSVP to Pamela J. Davis at pdavis@library.ca.gov by December 31, 2002 with their intent to attend.
Please RSVP with the following information:
1. Name of individuals who will attend
2. Organization name (if applicable)
3. Contact information for each participant
4. Please specify if you would like to attend one or both days
Once the draft has been released, stakeholders interested in making presentations during the forum must notify Pamela J. Davis (pdavis@library.ca.gov) by January 9, 2003 to receive space in the schedule. A notice will be sent to all participants via e-mail on January 10, notifying them of any changes stakeholder participation may have on the timeframes in the schedule.
Written comments on the report will be accepted at anytime during the 30-day comment period and should be sent directly to Mrs. Davis (pdavis@library.ca.gov.)
The tentative agenda for the January forum is as follows:
Monday, January 13, 2003: Health Effects, Building Science, Prevention and
Control
7:45 a.m. Doors open,
participants must sign in
8:00 - 9:00 a.m. Introductions and Issue Overview
9:00 noon Health Effects: Consensus and Non-Consensus
Noon 1:00 p.m. Lunch on your own
1:00 3:00 p.m. Moisture Issues in California Buildings
3:00 3:15 p.m. Break
3:15 5:15 p.m. Prevention and Control of Indoor Mold Growth
Tuesday, January 14, 2003:
Assessment and Remediation
7:45 a.m. Doors open, participants must sign in
8:00 8:30 a.m. Welcome back and brief introductions
8:30 10:15 a.m. Sampling and Identification
10:15 10:30 a.m. Break