Abstract
Air quality management represents a reason for concern in indoor environments, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how microbial aerosols pose a threat to human health, requiring proper monitoring. This is particularly true in public and working environments, where the turnover of occupants is high. The hospitality sector, in particular, has been severely affected by limitations related to emergency containment, and it needs to redefine its operations in the perspective of a “new normal” in the post-COVID-19 era. Considering the necessity to provide consistent information about indoor air quality, promote adequate management and increase safety, we developed a case study in cooperation with a major hotel in Turin. A sensing network has been implemented based on corporate-grade monitoring devices, compliant with the RESET standards, recently proposed and applied here to the hospitality sector for the first time. The network is able to detect the concentration of gaseous contaminants and fine particulate matter in semi-continuous mode. The study involved areas of the hotel with different purposes, such as guestrooms, hall, kitchen, restaurant and fitness center. Several valuable insights emerged in support of air quality management and pathways for future research can be outlined, based on the innovative dataset developed.
Highlights
Air quality is gaining increasing attention, both among academics and practitioners, due to the rising evidence of its impacts on human health
Standards have been set at the international level to limit the exposure of professionals to instant or long-term threats (for the EU, Directive 2009/161/EU—indicative occupational exposure limit values; for the U.S, specific regulations are developed at State level, such as California, with the California Labor Code §§6300 et seq., and New Jersey, with Indoor Air Quality standard, N.J.A.C. 12:100-13 (2007); for China, Occupational Diseases Prevention and Control Act of 2002)
We developed a longitudinal case study during the COVID19 crisis in collaboration with a major Italian hotel, with the overarching aim of providing support to the recovery of the hospitality activities, based on insights gathered by IAQ
Summary
Air quality is gaining increasing attention, both among academics and practitioners, due to the rising evidence of its impacts on human health. The focus of regulations about air quality has historically been on the protection of human health against the negative effects of exposure to airborne pollutants, through two main orientations. In the outdoor environment, with the setting of a concentrations limit for airborne pollutants of concern typical of urban areas (e.g., particulate matter, nitrogen compounds and ozone) [2]. Standards have been set at the international level to limit the exposure of professionals to instant or long-term threats (for the EU, Directive 2009/161/EU—indicative occupational exposure limit values; for the U.S, specific regulations are developed at State level, such as California, with the California Labor Code §§6300 et seq., and New Jersey, with Indoor Air Quality standard, N.J.A.C. 12:100-13 (2007); for China, Occupational Diseases Prevention and Control Act of 2002)
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