**4. Building health diagnosis for public health**

The application of Building Medicine is a management project which prevents building occupants from becoming ills due to staying in an unhealthy building. It manages occupants, buildings, and environments of the affected areas. Illness caused by an unhealthy environment-such as Legionnaires' disease (caused by air-conditioning,) cancer (caused by excess electromagnetic wave, radiation or harmful building materials,) allergy (caused by poor indoor air quality) or Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)-can be prevented by proper management of the building health. How these health-hazardous factors can be eliminated? From the point of view of Building Medicine, building's health should be maintained by playing the three roles of Building Medicine (see 2.2 Roles Played by Building Medicine). Besides conducting scientific researches and medical education on buildings, when engineers engage in health care of buildings to protect public health and find out signs of diseases at the early stage, building health diagnosis (BHD) is a good strategy for maintaining and managing healthy buildings.

15. Formaldehyde: United States Environmental Protection Agency classified formaldehyde as a carcinogen (Salthammer et al., 2010). Direct contact with formaldehyde causes skin allergies, eye irritation, allergic asthma, and other diseases of less pronounced symptoms (Wu et al., 2003). High level formaldehyde affects the nervous system, the immune system and the liver. Long-time contact with formaldehyde would result in chronic respiratory diseases, irregular menstrual period, decreasing resistance of babies, and even respiratory system cancers (such as

16. O2: When there is no sufficient oxygen, people would lose concentration, forgetful, worse vision, more difficult to lose fat, and prone to ageing. In the work environment, the level of oxygen in the air must be more than 18%. Anoxia would be triggered when oxygen level is lower than 18%. The symptoms of anoxia are nausea, vomiting,

17. Particles: The harmful effects of particles include respiratory diseases, cardio-vascular diseases, and allergies (D'Amato et al., 2005). People exposed to an environment of high concentration of particles for a long time usually can not detect any pronounced symptoms at first. However, when the condition is getting worse, they would start to have asthma and more phlegm. Their asthma may be so acute that they even feel hard of breathing and rapid heart beats when walking, which makes them unable to perform

The indoor air quality test taken by this study included all the general items except for bacteria and fungus because testing equipments are not yet acquired. For physical environment of the buildings, the levels of noise, illumination, humidity, and oxygen are tested, and the other tested items include radiation, ELF-EMF, HF-EMF, pH level of water, turbidity, and chloride residues. In total, 17 items are tested. Of course, environmental factors which affect health are more than 17 items. However, due to the restraints of time and budget, this study only discusses items which are covered by current teaching and

The application of Building Medicine is a management project which prevents building occupants from becoming ills due to staying in an unhealthy building. It manages occupants, buildings, and environments of the affected areas. Illness caused by an unhealthy environment-such as Legionnaires' disease (caused by air-conditioning,) cancer (caused by excess electromagnetic wave, radiation or harmful building materials,) allergy (caused by poor indoor air quality) or Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)-can be prevented by proper management of the building health. How these health-hazardous factors can be eliminated? From the point of view of Building Medicine, building's health should be maintained by playing the three roles of Building Medicine (see 2.2 Roles Played by Building Medicine). Besides conducting scientific researches and medical education on buildings, when engineers engage in health care of buildings to protect public health and find out signs of diseases at the early stage, building health diagnosis (BHD) is a good strategy for

headache, drowsiness, and sleeping difficulties (Nilles et al., 2009).

any work. This condition is called particles toxic syndromes.

**4. Building health diagnosis for public health** 

maintaining and managing healthy buildings.

damages to the nervous system, liver, and kidneys.

nasopharyngeal cancer) and deformity.

testing practices.

existing in the environment include formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, styrene, etc. Being exposed to high level of volatile organic compounds for a long time would inflict



In order to promote BHD, the author has started to offer a class called Building Diagnosis Technology (BDT) in Feng Chia University. As the University was promoting the attitude of 'learning through community service', this class was designed as a long-term learning program of community service. The University agreed to allocate funds for purchasing building and environment test devices, so students not only fulfil their community service responsibility, they also can apply the knowledge of civil engineering they learned in class to health diagnosis cases in communities. The author taught students how to make use of the management concepts of Building Medicine and the diagnosing and management knowledge they had learned in the preparatory class (BHD). Then he taught them how to use test devices. Finally, students were sent to communities arranged by this community service program to

Making a Healthy Living Space Through the Concept of Healthy Building of Building Medicine 105

2. ELF-EMF: This is tested by EMF Tester (Model: TES-1392). Maximum detection limit is 2,000 mG, and its analytic precision can be as high as 0.1mG. The meter can be used

3. HF-EMF: This is tested by ElectroSmog Meter (Model: TES-92). Its display resolution is

4. Temperature and humidity: These are measured by Data logging Humidity / Temperature Meter (Model: TES-1365). The meter can start measuring at pre-set time. The measurement range of temperature is between -20℃~+60℃, and the measurement

5. Illumination: This is measured by Data Logging Light Meter (Model: TES-1336A). The measurement range is 20, 200, 2,000 and 20,000 Lux/Fc (1Fc=10.76 Lux). Sample rate=

Fig. 7. ElectroSmog Meter (left)/ Humidity/Temperature Meter (middle)/ Light Meter

total chloride content is 2.0~6.0 ppm. See the right picture of Fig. 9.

6. Radiation: This is tested by Programmable Dosimeter (Model: PM1203M), which can detect gamma ray. The dose rate in the detection range is 0.1~2000μSv/h. See Fig. 8. 7. PH level and turbidity of water and chloride residues: PH level of water is tested by digital pH Meter (Model: PH-207). The measurement range of pH level is 0~14. See left picture of Fig. 9. The water turbidity is tested by Turbid Meter (Model: TN 100). The detection range is 00.00~19.99 / 20.0~99.9 / 100~1000 NTU. See the middle picture on Fig. 9. Chloride residues are tested by Portable Colorimeter (Model: C201). The detection range of chloride residue content is 0~1.99 ppm and the detection range of

0.1mV/m, 0.1 μA/m and 0.01 μW/m2. See the left picture of Fig.7.

range of humidity is 10%~95 % RH. See the middle picture on Fig. 7.

2.5 times/per second. See the right picture on Fig. 7.

with software. See Fig. 6.

(right)

Fig. 8. Programmable Dosimeter

perform environment health diagnosis and practice their testing skills. Because this was a large class, the number of students made it unfeasible for them to go into each household and perform their service. As a result, the environment health diagnosis provided by BDT class was usually carried out in public space. The diagnosis items include: radioactive house test, ELF-EMF level test (community utility facilities/utility poles/substations/power towers), HF-EMF level test (mobile phone base stations/ wireless internet), environment noise test, degree of illumination in the public space (following the CNS standard), water quality test (pH level, turbidity, pH colorimeter value), humidity in public environment, IAQ air quality standard (CO/CO2/O3/TVOC/formaldehyde/temper-ature/particles) recommended by Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration, and the test of oxygen content. See Table 1 for diagnosis items and possible sources of problems for each item.

For the convenience of field instruction and on-site tests, the devices used in this study are all handheld readout devices. Some of the devices can also be used with software for visual interface management. Although they are not expensive (the price of each device is between 500 USD to 5,000 USD), they are sufficient for introducing students to environmental education or initial tests of hazardous environmental factors. The devices used are introduced briefly below:

1. Noise: Programmable Sound Level Meter (Model: TES-1352H) is used for testing. Its test range is 30~130 dB (A), and can be used with software. See Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Programmable Sound Level Meter and operation screen of its software

Fig. 6. EMF Tester and operation screen of its software

perform environment health diagnosis and practice their testing skills. Because this was a large class, the number of students made it unfeasible for them to go into each household and perform their service. As a result, the environment health diagnosis provided by BDT class was usually carried out in public space. The diagnosis items include: radioactive house test, ELF-EMF level test (community utility facilities/utility poles/substations/power towers), HF-EMF level test (mobile phone base stations/ wireless internet), environment noise test, degree of illumination in the public space (following the CNS standard), water quality test (pH level, turbidity, pH colorimeter value), humidity in public environment, IAQ air quality standard (CO/CO2/O3/TVOC/formaldehyde/temper-ature/particles) recommended by Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration, and the test of oxygen content. See Table 1 for

For the convenience of field instruction and on-site tests, the devices used in this study are all handheld readout devices. Some of the devices can also be used with software for visual interface management. Although they are not expensive (the price of each device is between 500 USD to 5,000 USD), they are sufficient for introducing students to environmental education or initial tests of hazardous environmental factors. The devices used are

1. Noise: Programmable Sound Level Meter (Model: TES-1352H) is used for testing. Its

test range is 30~130 dB (A), and can be used with software. See Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Programmable Sound Level Meter and operation screen of its software

Fig. 6. EMF Tester and operation screen of its software

diagnosis items and possible sources of problems for each item.

introduced briefly below:


Fig. 7. ElectroSmog Meter (left)/ Humidity/Temperature Meter (middle)/ Light Meter (right)


Fig. 8. Programmable Dosimeter

Making a Healthy Living Space Through the Concept of Healthy Building of Building Medicine 107

9. Particles: This is measured by Met One-Particle Mass Profiler & Counter (Model: AEROCET 531). The quantity of particles can be detected are PM1, PM2.5, PM7, PM10, and TSP. The measurement range is 0~1 mg/m3. The number of particles which can be detected is 0.5 and 5.0μm. Its measurement range is 0~3,000,000 /ft3, and it can be used

The cases presented here is the combined result of the service learning course, Building Diagnosis Technology (BDT), and Building Medicine. The teaching goal of BDT is to train students to be able to use technological meters to diagnose the health and safety hazardous factors hidden in the community environment, and are also able to describe the sources of the problems. Finally, they work in teams and perform health diagnosis service in the public environments of communities. Through this course, they can understand and experience the training and practice of building doctors, and they can also make presentation to residents to explain the hazardous factors which may be hidden in their environments. The tested

From 2009 to 2010, the total number of students who took these two classes is 154, and the service was performed in 3 communities (public space) and 1 elderly day care center (indoor environment). The total number of the serviced buildings is 30, which are of RC structures. The total testing service time in each community is 12 hours. There are 3 buildings in Case 1

See the right picture of Fig. 12.

with software. See Fig. 13.

Fig. 13. Particle Mass Profiler & Counter

items are the 17 items listed in Table 1.

**5. Case study** 

Fig. 12. GMI-Portable Gas Detector (left) / O3 Monitor (right)

(Model: Series 200), whose measurement range is 0~50 ppm and resolution is 0.01 ppm.

Fig. 9. PH Meter (left)/ Turbid meter (middle)/ Portable Colorimeter (right)

8. Content of CO, CO2, TVOCs, HCHO, O2, O3 in the air: CO content is measured by CO Meter (Model: GCO-2008). See left picture of Fig. 10. The measurement range is 0~1,000 ppm and the resolution is 1ppm. The meter can be used with software. The measurement range of CO2 Meter (Model: GCH-2018) is 0~4,000 ppm and the resolution is 1 ppm, and the meter can be used with software. See the right picture of Fig. 10.

Fig. 10. CO Meter (left)/CO2 Meter (right)

TVOCs content is measured by TVOCs Monitor (Model: Series 500). See the left picture of Fig. 11. The measurement range is 0~500 ppm, and the resolution is 1 ppm. The unit of concentration can be ppm or mg/m3. The meter can be used with software. HCHO content is detected by HCHO Detector (Model: FP-30). See the right picture of Fig. 11. The measurement range is 0~0.4 ppm, and the meter can be used with software.

Fig. 11. TVOC Monitor (left)/HCHO Detector (right)

Oxygen content is measured by GMI-Portable Gas Detector, whose measurement range is 0%~25% Vol. See the left picture of Fig. 12. Ozone content is measured by O3 Monitor (Model: Series 200), whose measurement range is 0~50 ppm and resolution is 0.01 ppm. See the right picture of Fig. 12.

Fig. 12. GMI-Portable Gas Detector (left) / O3 Monitor (right)

9. Particles: This is measured by Met One-Particle Mass Profiler & Counter (Model: AEROCET 531). The quantity of particles can be detected are PM1, PM2.5, PM7, PM10, and TSP. The measurement range is 0~1 mg/m3. The number of particles which can be detected is 0.5 and 5.0μm. Its measurement range is 0~3,000,000 /ft3, and it can be used with software. See Fig. 13.

Fig. 13. Particle Mass Profiler & Counter
