Indoor Air Quality : landmarks and legal framework - Dwellings, public access buildings and tertiary buildings

In industrialized countries, and particularly in France, we spend an average of 80% of our time indoors, whether in our homes, workplaces, schools, leisure facilities or means of transport (car, bus, metro, train, plane, etc.). This average rises to 95% for young children, a population that is particularly sensitive to air pollution. In fact, a newborn takes an average of 40 breaths a minute, compared with 16 for an adult. Proportionally, a child breathes more than an adult and can absorb twice as many pollutants, even though its nervous and immune systems are immature.

While outdoor air quality –, or atmospheric quality, or ambient air quality –, has a binding regulatory framework and a structured monitoring system, with quantified targets that are increasingly publicized when exceeded, this is not the case for indoor air quality, where the regulatory framework remains less restrictive and more fragmented, despite developments over the last five years.

However, the effects of poor indoor air quality are not trivial, and can range from simple discomfort to health-related effects. The latter can range from mild discomfort (odors, skin and eye irritation, headaches, drowsiness) to more serious pathologies, from respiratory allergies such as asthma, to the development of cancer.

In our homes, public buildings and workplaces, indoor air quality is a real public health issue, and a growing concern for public authorities. Since the 2000s, the Observatoire de la qualité de l'air intérieur (OQAI) has carried out a number of campaigns in places frequented by young children, homes and tertiary buildings, and has thereby contributed to a better understanding of the substances, agents and situations affecting indoor air quality in existing housing stock, and of people's exposure levels. This work, coupled with that of the Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (ANSES), among others, has gradually led to the regulatory definition of guide values for certain substances.

The quality of working atmospheres is also a major concern, closely linked to the prevention of risks to which workers are exposed. Establishments governed by the French Labor Code must comply with ventilation and aeration regulations, described in a forthcoming article [G 1 513] . General regulations apply to enclosed premises where employees are required to stay, and to all places where employees...