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Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Firehouses

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Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health V

Part of the book series: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control ((SSDC,volume 492))

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Abstract

This work assessed firefighters’ exposure to gases pollutants in non- fire work settings during the pre-fire season as a baseline for the respective occupational exposure characterization. Indoor air sampling (total volatile organic compounds—TVOCs, ozone-O3, and carbon di oxide-CO2) was conducted for two weeks in the pre-fire season of 2021 in seven firehouses (FH1–FH7) situated in the north-interior of Portugal. The result showed that across all FH, TVOCs highly varied with observed levels of 180 μg m−3 and 11.5 mg m–3 (overall median of 1.86 mg m–3). Furthermore, at all FH, the observed levels highly exceeded (1.5–6.6 times) the Portuguese protective thresholds of 600 μg m–3 for indoor air quality in public buildings. On the contrary, the indoor ozone concentrations (range: 23–80 μg m–3; median 60 μg m–3) and CO2 (range 800–1160 mg m-3: median 924 mg m–3) were relatively low and in accordance with existing national standards. While the associations between the pollutants were low—moderate (|rs|= 0.030–0.679) to better identify the respective indoor emission sources, quantification of specific VOC compounds/classes is required in future studies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by PCIF/SSO/0017/2018 by FCT-MCTES through national funds. Additional supports include projects LA/P/0045/2020 (ALiCE), UIDB/00511/2020-UIDP/00511/2020 (LEPABE), UIDB/00690/2020-UIDP/00690/2020 (CIMO), LA/P/0007/2020 (Sus-TEC), and UIDB/50006/2020-UIDP/50006/2020 (REQUIMTE), and FCT fellowships SFRH/BPD/115/112/2016, 2020.07394.BD, and UI/BD/150783/2020.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LEPABE-ALiCE, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    K. Slezakova & M. C. Pereira

  2. Environmental Health Department, National Institute of Health, Porto, Portugal

    F. Esteves, S. Costa, J. Madureira & J. P. Teixeira

  3. National Institute of Public Health, EPIUnit, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    F. Esteves, S. Costa, J. Madureira & J. P. Teixeira

  4. Department for Public Health and Forensic Sciences and Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    F. Esteves

  5. CIMO, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal

    J. Vaz & M. J. Alves

  6. SusTEC, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal

    J. Vaz

  7. REQUIMTE–LAQV, Instituto Superior de Engenharia Do Porto, Instituto Politécnico Do Porto, R. Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4200-072, Porto, Portugal

    B. Barros & S. Morais

  8. UICISA: E, Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal

    A. Fernandes

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  1. K. Slezakova
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Correspondence to K. Slezakova .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Production and Systems, School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Pedro M. Arezes

  2. Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Rui B. Melo

  3. Department of Production and Systems, School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Paula Carneiro

  4. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Jacqueline Castelo Branco

  5. School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Ana Colim

  6. Department of Production and Systems School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Nélson Costa

  7. School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Susana Costa

  8. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Joana Duarte

  9. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Joana C. Guedes

  10. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Gonçalo Perestrelo

  11. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    J. Santos Baptista

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Slezakova, K. et al. (2024). Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Firehouses. In: Arezes, P.M., et al. Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health V. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 492. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38277-2_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38277-2_35

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