Health Risk Assessment of Indoor Formaldehyde Exposure in Facilities for Medically Vulnerable People

Abstract

A health risk assessment was conducted using indoor formaldehyde concentrations measured during a four-year period from 2019 to 2022 for 322 facilities within Busan Metropolitan City. In the facilities, the average concentration of formaldehyde was 26.7 <i>μg</i>/m3 for general hospitals, 27.4 <i>μg</i>/m3 for nursing hospitals, 17.8 <i>μg</i>/m3for daycare centers, 42.9 <i>μg</i>/m3 for postpartum care centers, and 14.1 <i>μg</i>/m3 for elderly care facilities. As for the health risk of formaldehyde, workers in hospitals, daycare centers, postpartum care centers, and elderly care facilities had ECR (excess cancer risk) values of 3.54 × 10-5, 2.84 × 10-5, 6.84 × 10-5, and 1.86 × 10-5 for CTE (central tendency exposure), respectively. Based on the Busan City ordinance seven out of 322 facilities in this study were found to be non-compliant. When the risk was calculated for individual data according to the exposure of workers in each facility, 303 ECR values (94%) exceeded 1.0 × 10-5. If excess cancer risk is calculated by assuming a gradual change in formaldehyde concentration, the current maintenance standard (70 <i>μg</i>/m3) is insufficient to provide appropriate safety for workers, patients and residents. Therefore, higher stringent values than 50 <i>μg</i>/m3 are required to obtain indoor air quality standards for formaldehyde that meet an ECR of 1.0 × 10-4.