Indoor Air Quality

What is the Indoor Air Quality Program?

The main focus of the Indoor Air Quality Program is to reduce exposure to health hazards in homes and businesses. This program offers a variety of inspection services aimed at identifying and eliminating various contaminants, including asbestos, radon and other indoor air health hazards.

Significant Achievements:

The indoor air quality staff joined a local team of professionals to address the incidence of pediatric asthma. The indoor air quality staff identify and reduce the environmental triggers which lead to the onset of pediatric asthma. Indoor air specialists concentrate their inspection, investigation and educational efforts in the homes and schools using both enforcement of codes and health education to control identified environmental triggers. Indoor Air specialists also works closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) to sponsor workshops for local school systems on how to use the "Tools for Schools" kit designed to assess indoor air risk factors.

Reducing exposure to carbon monoxide has continued to be a major activity of the indoor air quality staff. A coalition of public and private partners provides education to the general public and specific trade groups such as heating contractors (repair men). Coalition members are trained about the dangers of carbon monoxide exposure and about increased awareness of the resources available to reduce the public's risk. The coalition is working with the fire departments to ensure identified problems are corrected.

Radon is a radioactive gas that cannot be seen, smelled or tasted and comes from the breakdown of uranium commonly found in the soil. Radon can enter homes through any openings between the soil and the house. According to the EPA, radon may cause up to 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year. The only way to know what radon levels may be present in homes is to test. The indoor air quality program offers radon samplers (at cost) to test the air in homes. Surveys in Marion County have found that about one third of the homes tested are above the EPA's recommended action level of 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/l). Indoor air quality staff provide testing services as well as information on what steps can be taken to reduce the radon level in homes.