Use of a sensory irritation potential index to characterize improvement of indoor air quality in French schools by ventilation

Abstract : After several cases of health problems in French schools, a methodology for health risk assessment related to indoor air quality (IAQ) was required. Based on measured concentrations in schools where acute symptoms possibly due to exposure to airborne sensory irritants were reported, an index quantifying the sensory irritation potential was built and used. This paper focuses on one classroom where the index was successively applied without any ventilation system, after the implementation of passive ventilation grids and with a mechanically controlled ventilation. The decrease of the index value was correlated with an improved IAQ perception by pupils and teachers since no complaint occurred any longer. It shows the ventilation efficiency in removing irritating volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the validity of our IAQ irritant potential index.