Recommitting to Ventilation Standards for Healthy Indoor Air Quality

Published on January 22, 2025
Post Categories
Indoor Air Quality

A Commentary by Dr. Joseph G. Allen in the American Journal of Public Health provides a historical perspective on the history of ventilation standards as told through the lens of public health and concludes with an urgent call for a return to health-focused targets.

Key Insights

  • Costly pivot away from health: “In 1973, ASHRAE, the standard-setting body that followed ASHVE, released a new standard for ventilation, ASHRAE 62. The earlier 30 cfm/p health-focused targets were lowered by half (or more), and were “based in part on the ventilation required to control odors from human bioeffluents.” In the 1981 version, the title of the standard was explicit that the focus was merely “acceptable” indoor air quality (“ASHRAE Standard 62-1981: Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality”). The departure from earlier health-focused ventilation to lower “acceptable” ventilation targets based on odor control marks the birth of the sick building era, with the term “sick building syndrome” first appearing in the early 1980s.”
  • COVID-19 lessons: “The year 2020 marked a major turning point in the history of ventilation. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), spread predominantly indoors, found an ally in buildings designed to minimal “acceptable” ventilation standards.” 
  • Alignment toward health-focused targets: “There does seem to be alignment forming on health-focused ventilation targets. A group of more than 40 international experts wrote a commentary in Science in March 2024 proposing indoor air quality standards, wherein they recommended … 30 cfm/p; the same target recommended by The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, and the same health-focused ventilation target used 100 years ago.”

“We are at a precipice. The World Health Organization has declared clean indoor air a fundamental human right, and ventilation is a key component of ensuring clean indoor air. The current standards governing our ventilation rates are not based on health and have not been for decades. The lessons from our past combined with recent experiences present an unambiguous call to action: to recommit to ventilation not as a technical standard for minimally acceptable conditions but as a cornerstone of public health.”

Read the full Commentary here: Recommitting to Ventilation Standards for Healthy Indoor Air Quality | AJPH | Vol. 114 Issue 10

Allen JG. Recommitting to Ventilation Standards for Healthy Indoor Air Quality. American Journal of Public Health. 2024 Oct;114(10):991-3.read the and join us in this critical public health initiative.

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