Environmental Health And Building Related Illnesses
- Author:
Stephen Ambu
;
Wan-Loy Chu
;
Joon-Wah Mak
;
Shew-Fung Wong
;
Li-Li Chan
;
Siew-Tung Wong
- Publication Type:Review
- Keywords:
Indoor air quality, health
- From:International e-Journal of Science, Medicine and Education
2008;2(supp1):11-18
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Malaysia has good environmental laws to
protect the outdoor environment and public health.
However there are no laws governing indoor air quality
(IAQ) and the knowledge among the public about its
importance is also lacking. Environmental professionals
think it is not a priority and this influences the policy
decisions in the country. Therefore there is a need to
create awareness by way of research, education and
other promotional activities. What is much needed at
this time is the establishment of standards for the
conduct of risk assessment studies. To establish
standards we need reliable data which can be used to
develop appropriate guidelines for the purpose of
mitigation and adaptation programmes. IAQ can have
significant influence on health resulting in drop in
productivity and economy of a country. It has been
estimated that in the US, building related illnesses
(BRI) symptoms have a relationship with decrease (3 to
5%) in work performance in an affected population
resulting in an annual loss of US$60 billion in revenue.
However, based on efficient management programmes
they have also projected that the potential annual
savings can be in the region of US$10 to 30 billion. This
establishes that fact that good management programmes
based on efficient guidelines is of economic value to a
country and wellbeing of the population. The IMU has
embarked on a research programme to collect the
much-needed data for the framing of a good IAQ
guideline for Malaysia.
- Full text:W020150928395984827522.pdf
