ETS levels in hospitality environments satisfying ASHRAE standard 62-1989:"ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality"

Prior to this study, indoor air constituent levels and Ventilation rates of hospitality environments had not been measured simultaneously. This invest igation measured indoor Environmental Tobacco Smoke-related (ETS-related) c onstituent levels in two restaurants, a billiard hall and a casino. The obj ective of this study was to characterize ETS-related constituent levels ins ide hospitality environments when the Ventilation rates satisfy the require ments of the ASHRAE 62-1989 Ventilation Standard. The ventilation rate of e ach selected hospitality environment was measured and adjusted. The study a dvanced only if the requirements of the ASHRAE 62-1989 Ventilation Standard - the pertinent standard of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers - were satisfied. The supply rates of outdo or air and occupant density were measured intermittently to assure that the ventilation rate of each facility satisfied the standard under occupied co nditions. Six ETS-related constituents were measured: respirable suspended particulate (RSP) matter, fluorescent particulate matter (FPM, an estimate of the ETS particle concentrations), ultraviolet particulate matter (UVPM, a second estimate of the ETS particle concentrations), solanesol, nicotine and 3-ethenylpyridine (3-EP). ETS-related constituent levels in smoking sec tions, non-smoking sections and outdoors were sampled daily for eight conse cutive days at each hospitality environment. This study found that the diff erence between the concentrations of ETS-related constituents in indoor smo king and non-smoking sections was statistically significant. Differences be tween indoor non-smoking sections and outdoor ETS-related constituent level s were identified but were not statistically significant. Similarly, differ ences between weekday and weekend evenings were identified but were not sta tistically significant. The difference between indoor smoking sections and outdoors was statistically significant. Most importantly, ETS-related const ituent concentrations measured indoors did not exceed existing occupational standards. It was concluded that if the measured ventilation rates of the sampled facilities satisfied the ASHRAE 62-1989 Ventilation Standard requir ements, the corresponding ETS-related constituents were measured at concent rations below known harmful levels as specified by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygiene (ACGIH). (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.