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What
were the reasons to start Indoor Air Quality Department?
"Indoor
Air Quality Department is not a new one. Dubai Municipality's
Environment Department opened its IAQ office about five years ago.
Three years later it came under the management of Health
Control Unit & Epidemiology Department, a unit directly under my
Health & Medical Services Department. I converted it into an
exclusive department for IAQ when it about two years ago.
Health control
We
hear more recently a lot of Dubai residents complaining of allergies
caused by centralised AC systems.
Do any of these complaints come to you?
Is the Health Department doing anything to control the
increasing indoor air quality problems?
Yeas
we are also getting lot of complaints associated with IAQ from
Commercial buildings, Cafes, shopping centre etc. We do look into all the complaints in detail.
systems. We also
receive complaints from office health problems due to photocopying
machines. You know
photocopying machines in small rooms can be quite bad for the health
as they generate ozone. We
do inspections at places where people gather like cafes, shopping
malls etc
I
am actually putting more effort in Occupational Health and Safety of
the labourers. Labour
camps are places where indoor air quality is of high importance
because of the confined space within which they live in.
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Are
you planning to implement smoke-free zones?
Yes
yes, I had a discussion recently with the shopping mall owners
regarding introducing smoke free zones in shopping malls.
I will be meeting them again in this regard and soon we may
have more smoke free zones. Having
a small smoke-free areas inside restaurants doesn't help much as the
air travels through the ac and the smoke gets circulated in the
rooms. So we are now
strict on having better ventilation and installing electronic
filters that can absorb smoke.
We
have already banned smoking in taxis and rent-a-cars.
Does
the Municipality release any guide on IAQ?
Do you follow the American Standard or the UK Standard on IAQ?
I
have prepared leaflets and flyers on IAQ which are in the process of
printing. We follow the
ASHRAE and WHO standards
Does
the Municipality carry out medical assessments?
What all IAQ Tests does the municipality clinic carry out in
their laboratory?
At
the moment we do not have a laboratory. But we carry out tests like total bacteria counts, total
fungal counts, Volatile Organic Compounds, Respirable Particles,
Ozone, Formaldehyde, Carbon monoxide, Carbon dioxide.
We also do legionella test.
Do
you follow any Cleaning standards for cleaning Air Ducts? Do the air duct cleaning contractors work closely with
your health department?
We
don’t follow any cleaning standards in particular for cleaning AC
ducts. It’s the
maintenance people who deals with AC cleaning.
But these contractors work closely with our health
department. Whenever there is a mould complaint or other allergy problems
our health inspectors look into it.
We
have a checklist for HVAC engineers on AC duct cleaning
What
sort of advice or guidance does the municipality health inspectors
give to residents or building occupants in tackling allergy
problems?
Yeah
our inspector give advice on carpet related allergies.
We advice residents to remove carpets and to use floor tiles
in houses. All the
schools and other municipality owned buildings do not have carpeted
floors.
What
are your thoughts on implementing improved hygiene standards on
indoor air quality?
Do
you think it is important we need laws on cleaning air conditioning
ducts to have the systems cleaned and sanitised regularly?
Of
course we need to have laws. I
have prepared an action plan to achieve good Indoor air quality.
Residents
here in the UAE do not seem to be aware of indoor air related health
problems
(allergies,
asthma, runny noses, sneezing etc) problems.
Does
the Dubai Municipality release any fact sheet on Indoor Air Quality?
Do
you/plan to organise programmes to address the public the importance
of the indoor environment to human health.
It’s
a wrong notion that people here do not have much idea on indoor air.
Of course we need to put more efforts in publishing our
services so that for any IAQ problems people would know whom to
approach We are planning to organise seminars too in this regard.
How
long have you been with the Municipality Health Department?"
I
have been with the Health Department from the
past 10 years.
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