Nina Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. >> Policies and Regulations >> "Indoor Air Quality Standard"
**"Indoor Air Quality Standard"**
Nina Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. 2008-10-27 12:50:24
On December 18, 2002, the National Standardization Management Committee issued Announcement No. 12 of 2002. The first "Indoor Air Quality Standard" in China, jointly formulated by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the National Environmental Protection Agency, and the Ministry of Health, was officially released on November 19, 2002, and implemented on March 1, 2003. The standard number for the "Indoor Air Quality Standard" is GB18883-2002.
The "Indoor Air Quality Standard" specifies its scope of application as residential buildings and office buildings, with other indoor environments encouraged to follow this standard. Prior to the release and implementation of this standard, the state had already issued relevant standards for indoor air quality in hospitals, public places, and other special industries. In addition to supplementing and completing the indoor air quality standards for these special industries, this standard covers all other indoor environments.
The "Indoor Air Quality Standard" sets basic requirements for indoor air quality, namely, "indoor air should be non-toxic, harmless, and free from abnormal odors."
The "Indoor Air Quality Standard" categorizes indoor air pollutants that need to be controlled into four major categories: physical, chemical, biological, and radioactive pollutants. These pollutants have been proven to potentially affect human health. These pollutants include inhalable particles, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, benzene, toluene, xylene, benzo(a)pyrene, ammonia, ozone, volatile organic compounds, radon, and bacteria, totaling 15 types. The "Indoor Air Quality Standard" sets the minimum allowable limits for these 15 pollutants in indoor air.
The "Indoor Air Quality Standard" also specifies standard ranges for parameters related to indoor air quality, such as temperature, relative humidity, fresh air volume, and air velocity.
The background for the introduction of China's "Indoor Air Quality Standard" is similar to that of most industrially advanced countries, mainly due to the extensive use of air conditioning and centralized heating equipment in modern buildings, leading to increasingly better building sealing performance. This has caused a significant decline in indoor air quality, affecting people's quality of life, health levels, and even their safety.
The following table shows the standards for inhalable particle concentration and total bacterial count in the air as stipulated in the "Indoor Air Quality Standard":
- Inhalable Particle Concentration ≤ 0.15 mg/m³
- Total Air Bacteria Count ≤ 2500 cfu/m³
In practical situations, there are asymmetrical aspects regarding the standards for inhalable particle concentration and total bacterial count in the air. Practical evidence shows that there is a certain corresponding ratio between inhalable particle concentration and total bacterial count, i.e., the higher the inhalable particle concentration, the higher the total bacterial count. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the health safety standard for total bacterial count in indoor air should be ≤ 500 cfu/m³. Many countries, including Singapore, have set their indoor air quality standards based on WHO regulations at ≤ 500 cfu/m³.
For rooms equipped with air conditioning, the total bacterial count, especially the total fungal count, at the air conditioning outlet (including central air conditioning and split-type air conditioning) should be strictly controlled to below 500 cfu/m³.