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Indoor Air Quality |
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Standards |
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OSHA has no indoor air quality (IAQ) standards but it does provide
guidelines addressing the most common workplace complaints about indoor air
quality, which are typically related to temperature, humidity,
lack of outside air ventilation or smoking. Not
until workplace IAQ problems move beyond matters of human comfort into potential
hazardous conditions leading to serious physical harm or death, do OSHA
standards become applicable. Such standards may include those for specific air
quality contaminants, ventilation systems, or the General Duty Clause of the OSH
Act. This page
highlights OSHA standards, Federal Registers (rules,
proposed rules, and notices), standard interpretations (official letters of
interpretation of the standards), and national consensus standards related to IAQ.
OSHA
Section
5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, often referred to as the General Duty Clause,
requires employers to "furnish to each of his employees employment and
a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are
causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his
employees". Section
5(a)(2) requires employers to "comply with occupational safety
and health standards promulgated under this Act".
Note:
Twenty-four states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have
OSHA-approved State Plans and have adopted their own standards and enforcement policies. For the most part, these States adopt standards that are identical to Federal OSHA. However, some States have adopted different standards applicable to this topic or may have different enforcement policies. |
Highlighted Standards
General Industry (29
CFR 1910)
Construction Industry (29 CFR 1926)
Federal Registers
- Indoor
air quality. Notice 66:64946, (2001, December 17). Withdrawal
of proposal.
- Indoor
air quality.
Proposed Rules 59:15968-16039, (1994, April 5). By this notice, OSHA proposed to adopt standards addressing indoor air quality
in indoor work environments.
- Search all available
Federal Registers.
Standard Interpretations
National Consensus
Note: These are NOT OSHA regulations. However, they do
provide guidance from their originating organizations related to worker
protection.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
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62.1-2007, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor
Air Quality. Specifies minimum ventilation rates and indoor air quality
that will be acceptable to human occupants to minimize
the potential for adverse health effects.
Whereas ASHRAE Standard 62 has always been considered a design standard
for ventilation, building owner/operators should pay particular attention
to Section 8 titled Operations and Maintenance. Section 8 offers guidance
to the building owner/operator as to what ventilation components should
be maintained, what tasks should be performed and the minimum frequency
for performing those tasks.
- 55-2004, Thermal Environmental Conditions
for Human Occupancy. Specifies temperatures that approximately 80 percent
of building occupants should find acceptable.
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