Cal Iaq

Indoor Cooking Study. ARBs Research Screening Committee also approved a draft final report from Arcadis on an indoor cooking study they conducted for ARB. Results showed very high levels of particles and elevated levels of formaldehyde and some other pollutants emitted during certain common cooking activities. This confirms that cooking can contribute significantly to pollutant exposures of the occupants, especially those of the cook. Some additions and revisions to the report are needed. The final report should be available in three months.

Indoor/Personal Particle (PM) Exposure Study. ARBs Research Screening Committee also approved funding for a study by Harvard that will provide detailed characterization of indoor, outdoor, and personal PM concentrations and exposures. Monitoring will be conducted on 12 healthy subjects in Los Angeles for nine days each and will include personal, indoor, and outdoor levels of PM2.5 and PM10, and PM2.5 composition. Study results will be used by ARB to improve estimates of exposures to PM from different sources, to better understand the results of epidemiology studies, and to develop more effective strategies for reducing PM exposures.

New Cal/EPA Building. ARBs Research Division was among the first to move to the new Cal/EPA building at 1001 I Street in Sacramento. The 25-story building has many features to assure good indoor air quality. These include: the use of low and no-VOC paints and other wet building products; low-emitting carpet tiles that do not contain 4-PC and do not require wet adhesive; and workstations that meet the State of Washington office furniture emission requirements. Additionally, as generally recommended in the DHS guidelines for new office buildings, each floor is being flushed with 100% outdoor air for at least two weeks prior to occupancy and several weeks after occupancy. Monitoring has been conducted on several floorsall VOCs have been below levels at which acute health effects would be seen. After five weeks of flushing, two floors were re-tested and levels generally were reduced by 50%. Because each floor has a separate ventilation system, each floor can be controlled and flushed separately. This is not common in large office buildings, but has the advantage of allowing more specific control of each floor, and problems on one floor generally will not affect other floors.

Update on Indoor Symposium Summary and Board Meeting. The proceedings of the Indoor Air Quality Symposium held in May are expected to be available for distribution to symposium attendees and interested parties in January. The presentation by Indoor Program staff to the Air Resources Board scheduled for fall has been postponed until April,.

Green Building Task Force. Together with DHS and several other agencies, staff remain active on the States Green Building Task Force. Additionally, staff have been participating in meetings convened by the office of the Secretary of Consumer Affairs to facilitate implementation of Executive Order D-16-00 on sustainable state buildings. Staff also have been actively working with the Collaborative on High Performance Schools to assure good indoor air quality in schools. Each of these activities has involved review of various draft documents.

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Schools. In response to notification of an upcoming national news story, EHIB staff prepared a fact sheet for county health departments regarding molds in schools. The Sunday newspaper supplement USA Weekend featured an article on health effects associated with indoor molds in schools in the August 20 issue. Staff distributed a factsheet on indoor molds to all local health officers to help their staff respond to inquiries from the public. Sandy McNeel is preparing information specifically directed to school administrators on remediation and prevention of indoor molds.

Legislative Bill Analyses. EHIB staff analyzed several bills during the last quarter either directly or indirectly involving indoor air quality . These include:

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Sierra Radon Survey. Results of Radon measurements for 25 Sierra region elementary schools were compiled. Because several schools had concentrations above the EPA-action level (4 pCi/l) and the study period was limited to the spring months and only 3-4 months, it was decided that repeated measurements would be carried out for all schools, starting in the fall.

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n-Hexane Medical Guidelines. HESIS has developed medical guidelines for the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of n-hexane-induced peripheral neuropathy. The guidelines are available on the Occupational Health Branch web site, .

Tuberculosis Investigation in Jail Employees. HESIS reviewed an employee tuberculosis testing program at Sacramento County Jail. The investigation was made upon the request of Cal/OSHA's Medical Unit, after an inmate in the general prison population was found to have active (communicable) TB. After meeting with officials and reviewing policies and records, recommendations were submitted regarding the structure and content for a comprehensive facility-wide TB control program.

Combining Pollution Prevention with Occupational Health in the Vehicle Repair Industry. The Department of Toxic Substances Control is studying the use of water-based brake and parts cleaning systems as a substitute for organic solvent-based cleaners. HESIS will provide technical assistance on how occupational health and safety issues can be addressed simultaneously with pollution prevention by the DTSC hazardous materials inspectors.

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Radon Rule for Drinking Water. EPA proposed new regulations to reduce the public health risks from radon on November 2, in the Federal Register (64 FR 59246). The Radon Program will be taking the lead for the DHS response. Information on the rule and its status can be found at .

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Asbestos Training Approval Program. This new program to approve asbestos training courses has approved 21 trainers, which includes the course content for some 100 courses. There are another 8 trainers who have requested approval.

Airborne Contaminants 8 CCR 5155. Some 40 substances had Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) modified or established. The most interesting for this group is the limit set for fiberglass of 1.0 fiber/cc (listed as "Glass, fibrous"). The initial hearing for the list of changes was on May 2, and the next standards Board hearing that will include this section is set for October.

Heat Stress Standard. The Division has held two advisory committee meetings to review the need and issues involved in proposing a standard for heat stress. A draft proposal was review at the October 24 meeting.

New Cal/OSHA representive. Jim Lim has retired, and Bob Nakamura will attend CIWG-IAQ meetings in the future. He can be reached at the e-mail above or at .

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SB 25 - Children's Environmental Health Protection. OEHHA and ARB are required by this bill to determine whether, based on public health, scientific literature, and exposure pattern data, the current standards protect the health of the public, including infants and children, with adequate margin of safety. The OEHHA/ARB joint report entitled " Adequacy of California's Air Quality Standards, Senate Bill 25 - Children's Environmental Health Protection" (download from ) includes discussion on seven pollutants - carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and sulfates, lead, and hydrogen sulfide. OEHHA and ARB organized two public workshops in September (Sacramento and Los Angeles) to obtain public input and to respond to public questions and comments. The Air Quality Advisory Committee had a public meeting in Berkeley (October 12-13,) to discuss the health protectiveness of these standards and to help OEHHA and ARB decide which standards should be prioritized for full review and possible revision over the next few years.

Green Building Taskforce and Technical Group. OEHHA continues to work with Secretary Adams staff and other stakeholders on a document to fulfill the requirements of the Governor's Executive Order D-16-00 on Sustainable Building Practices.

ARB/DHS Portable Classroom Study. OEHHA provides technical support to ARB and DHS on this study (see ARB on write-up).

Traffic Study. On-going. The contract with LBL in place. See last CIWG-IAQ minutes for details.

Web-site Documents. The following documents are now available on the OEHHA website:

Our headquarters office, the USEPA Indoor Environments Division, has awarded $100,000 to the San Francisco County Department of Public Health to conduct an in-home project related to education and assistance related to identification and reduction of indoor environmental triggers for asthma. Project Coordinators are Rajiv Bhatia, MD, Director, Occupational and Environmental Health Sections, and Karen Cohn, Manager, Childrens Environmental Health Program. Only two such grants were awarded nationally, with the other awarded to Childrens Hospital, Philadelphia.

Barbara Spark participated in a two-day workshop on asthma coalitions hosted by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program and the American College of Chest Physicians at the national CHEST conference in San Francisco, October 25-26. She advocated for greater engagement with the school indoor environment being added on to ongoing activities relating to clinical management of asthma in schools.

Barbara Spark has been invited to serve on the Advisory Committee of RAMP, the Regional Asthma Management and Prevention Initiative.

Managing Asthma in the School Environment is a new document that has been created for the IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit program, and will be included in the new printing of the Kit which is expected early next year. See

Tools for School. Visalia Unified School District, which is implementing the IAQ Tools for Schools program at all thirty-two of its school sites, is playing an leadership role in the Central Valley. Theyve not only held two IAQ TFS training workshops since the beginning of this school year, but have also thrown out a wide net to other school districts to include them in this process.

Dr. Richard Shaughnessy will join us in Long Beach on December 6 to provide an IAQ Tools for Schools workshop for LBUSD and surrounding school districts. Southern California CIWG-IAQ members who would like to attend - or would like to facilitate attendance by school districts -

Shelly Rosenblum and Barbara Spark joined Beth Saiki of the American Lung Association of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties to provide a training workshop for AIHA members who are volunteering to serve as "mentors" for "IAQ Tools for Schools" pilot implementation schools in the S.F. Bay Area. Over 20 AIHA members are participating. Interested potential "mentors" (Many ALA chapters around the state are working to help schools implement "IAQ Tools for Schools." Barbara Spark, Shelly Rosenblum or Louise Hill can help make the connection.)

Saugus USD Experience. The Winter issue of the CASBO Journal (California Association of School Business Officials) will include a feature article by Adina Neale, Indoor Air Coordinator for the Saugus Union School District, about that districts indoor air crisis, and how implementation of the "IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit" program helped restore sustainable community trust after EHIB provided technical assistance (helping both the school administration and the larger school community to understand some of scientific and medical issues which had been raised). We expect the CASBO article to give a big boost to outreach efforts on "IAQ Tools for Schools."

Saugus Union School District received a national award for its work implementing the IAQ Tools for Schools" program at a national symposium on school IAQ held in Baltimore in August. Saugus also has joined the ranks of California school districts with formal IAQ policies. To view the Saugus Board policy, see

Mold Remediation Guidance. The Indoor Environments Division went public with an informal announcement of our upcoming guidance document, Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings, in an interview with an IAQ newsletter publisher. Release on our internet site is expected "early in," with print publication to follow. New items, including revisions and additions to the IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit, are being posted all the time, so its a good idea to check back with the web site on a regular basis.

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School Health Connections. This joint CDE and DHS project has issued a blueprint Building Infrastructure for Coordinated School Health. It identifies six goals to enable California's children and adolescents to become healthy, successful students at school and contributing members in their communities. The document can be downloaded from the CDE web site:

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Sustainability Executive Order. The Governor signed Executive Order (D-16-00) on sustainable building measures on August 2,. The full text is posted on the Governors web site at . Although the Executive Order was changed significantly from what the Green Building Taskforce had originally proposed, we view it as a substantial and positive step forward. The Order directs the Secretary of Consumer Affairs to submit a report to the Governor within six months, with recommended strategies for incorporating sustainable building practices into the development of State facilities. The original Green Building Taskforce group has been expanded to include representatives of more agencies and will be working with Secretary Adams and her staff on this report and the recommendations.

Green Building TaskForce. Due to the signing of Executive Order D-16 by Governor Davis in August, the Green Building Taskforce has been focusing on: (a) drafting a modified version of the LEED rating system applicable to California; and (b) assisting in the report required by the executive order. HDR has been retained by DGS to investigate the implementation of green measures in a limited number of already-budgeted state projects. The existing Tier lists will be used as a guide. DOF has agreed to this investigation and will consider funding of HDRs recommendations. At this point, it is unclear what criteria may be used to fund any "green designs". Future plans are to incorporate funds for green measures very early during the capital outlay process and before the budget packages have been finalized.

Capitol Area East End Project. In July, the Hensel Phelps Team submitted to the State their Special Environmental Requirements. This specification addresses indoor air quality and recycled content requirements for the building materials of Block 225. The indoor air quality requirements are similar to those specified in the office furniture contract but the list of VOCs has been reduced to 21 selected compounds and maximum acceptable concentrations are based on OEHHAs list of chronic Reference Exposure Level (REL). The 21 compounds were selected based on recent research conducted by LBNL on emissions from various building materials. We have been working with both Design/Build Teams to address a number of green issues. Members of the Green Team have been participating in monthly meetings of the Green Focus Group which consists of representatives from both Teams as well as DGS. Finally the quarterly report to the Joint Rules Committee has been prepared.

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