Assessment of indoor air quality and thermal comfort environmental factors in a secondary school located close to an industrial zone in northern Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Poor indoor environmental quality in terms of indoor air and thermal comfort has been ranked as one of the top four environmental health risks to the public. In addition, evidence continues to arise indicating that these conditions can affect students' health and performance. Thus, with the rapid growth of school buildings in Malaysia and all over the world, requirement for acceptable level of indoor air quality and thermal comfort conditions are pivotal. This paper presents a work of field measurements on indoor air quality and thermal comfort environmental factors in a secondary school located near an industrial zone in Northern Peninsular Malaysia. Four naturally ventilated rooms were selected, and measurements were carried out for eight hours. The indoor air quality parameters and thermal comfort environmental factors were measured following class-II protocol of field measurements. This includes measurements of PM10, carbon dioxide, airborne bacteria, air temperature, globe thermometer temperature, average radiant temperature, relative humidity and air speed. Results were analysed and compared with existing standards on indoor air quality and thermal comfort parameters: Malaysia Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010 DOSH Malaysia; ASHRAE Standard 55; Singapore Indoor Air Quality Standard and ISO Standard 7730.