Airborne fungi in air-conditioned offices of Hong Kong: Changes in the past decade

W. Y. Chan, K. W. Mui, L. T. Wong

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingConference proceedingpeer-review

Abstract

Indoor environment is easily associated with an exposure risk to some airborne fungi of health concerns. However, the existing indoor air quality (IAQ) policy in Hong Kong was in the form of guidance which audited 3 thermal comfort and 9 IAQ parameters, excluding the airborne fungi. The influence of such policy on fungi exposure in offices was not extensively evaluated. This study aims to review the changes of the airborne fungi exposure in air-conditioned offices in the past decade of Hong Kong and evaluate the influences of existing IAQ which implemented in the year 2003. The AFC in air-conditioned offices before and after the implementation of the current IAQ policy in 2003 were reviewed and the differences were studied. It is reported that the mean AFC in offices were decreased significantly from 147 CFU m-3 to 29 CFU m-3. As there is no universal standard for the AFC, the unsatisfactory rates with respect to target exposure levels of AFC (200 CFU m-3) were assessed and a significant decrease from 0.546 to 0.013 was reported. This study concludes the positive influence of the IAQ policy in lowering the AFC with IAQ improved in the past decade in Hong Kong.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 1st International Postgraduate Conference on Infrastructure and Environment, IPCIE 2009
Pages70-74
Number of pages5
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jun 2009
Event1st International Postgraduate Conference on Infrastructure and Environment, IPCIE 2009 - Hong Kong, China
Duration: 5 Jun 20096 Jun 2009

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 1st International Postgraduate Conference on Infrastructure and Environment, IPCIE 2009

Conference

Conference1st International Postgraduate Conference on Infrastructure and Environment, IPCIE 2009
Country/TerritoryChina
CityHong Kong
Period5/06/096/06/09

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Building and Construction
  • General Environmental Science

User-Defined Keywords

  • Air-conditioned office
  • Airborne fungi
  • Indoor air quality
  • Policy influence
  • Unsatisfactory rate

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