Title: Reading and Audio-Visual Assignments
Course: WGF 106 DEVELOPMENT > Section: Content

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Sub-Title | Human Comfort Factors and Relevant Standards
Content | The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.^[1] A person's personality can be described by his or her comfort zones. A comfort zone is a type of mental conditioning that causes a person to create and operate mental boundaries. Such boundaries create an unfounded sense of security. Like inertia, a person who has established a comfort zone in a particular axis of his or her life, will tend to stay within that zone without stepping outside of it. To step outside their comfort zone, a person must experiment with new and different behaviors, and then experience the new and different responses that occur within their environment.
Video | IAQ Complaints in the Office http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lucDPg8tUYs
Content
Relevant Standards

Awareness of indoor air quality issues continues to increase throughout Illinois and the country. Studies conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) that compare risks of environmental threats to public health consistently rank indoor air pollution (including secondhand smoke, radon, organic compounds, and biological pollutants) among the top five risks. Indoor air quality problems can be very complicated due to the complexity of the buildings and ventilation systems, highly charged emotions from occupants, and the fact that standard epidemiology and industrial hygiene evaluation techniques can be inconclusive.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (the Department) has developed guidelines for acceptable indoor air quality, recommendations for achieving acceptable indoor air quality, and a basic approach for indoor air quality investigations. The Department defines acceptable indoor air quality as air in which there are no known contaminants at harmful levels as set forth in this document. The Department guidelines are not enforceable by law, but are designed to help individuals or groups improve the quality of indoor air in their homes and workplaces.

Some guidelines cited in this document refer to standards promulgated by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers Inc. (ASHRAE). These are found in the ASHRAE documents Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality (ASHRAE 62-2001) and Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy (ASHRAE 55-2004). The Department adopts these two documents as the basis for guidelines set forth in this document. If the ASHRAE guidelines are changed, the Department will review the changes and amend this document accordingly.

The Department’s levels and ranges for indoor air contaminants listed here are deemed protective of the general population, but may NOT be appropriate for hypersensitive individuals. Additionally, he Department is aware that many contaminants may be responsible for indoor air quality problems. This document lists the most common contaminants responsible for occupant complaints in buildings. If a contaminant is not listed in this document, we recommend contacting the Department for consultation.

For reference, the Department has included in Table 1 (above) some occupational standards for the parameters discussed in this document. These occupational standards were developed for healthy working-age adult males and are based upon exposures of eight hours per day, five days per week. A small percentage of workers, because of age, sex, genetic factors, personal habits (such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug use), medication, or previous exposures, may experience adverse health effects from exposure to some substances at levels lower than these occupational standards. Additionally, these occupational standards are NOT appropriate for the home environment. People spend more time in their homes and more susceptible persons, such as children and the elderly, may be present.
Link/Upload | Comfort Zone – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_zone Factors Affecting Indoor Air Quality – U.S. EPA http://www.epa.gov/iaq/largebldgs/pdf_files/sec_2.pdf IEQ Factsheet – Illinois Department of Public Health http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/indoorairqualityguide_fs.htm
Attributions
Image courtesy of Factors Affecting IAQ – U.S. EPA

Content courtesy of  Wikipedia – The Free Internet Encyclopedia.

and by Factors Affecting IAQ – U.S. EPA,

and by Illinois Department of Public Health