Laboratory Air Quality and Room Air Change Rates

Rob Klein, Yale University Office of Environmental Health & Safety
Anthony Kosior, Yale University, School of Medicine

The presentation will describe the applied research on the effect of different room air change rates on laboratory air quality. Work was performed in occupied and unoccupied laboratories, under both simulated and actual use conditions, as well as during chemical spill emergencies. Photoionization detection (PIDs) was used to measure chemical vapors in exhaust air in real-time over a wide range of room air change rates. Accurate HVAC system tracking and trending throughout the experiments helped ensure that differences observed were solely the function of the varied room air change rates. Not surprisingly, lower air change rates generally resulted in higher chemical concentrations in laboratory air. However, the relative differences between rates challenge some of the basic assumptions about laboratory room air change recommendations, with implications for safely modulating air flows by occupancy and hazard.

Biography:

Rob Klein is a certified industrial hygienist with more than 20 years of health and safety experience. He received his Master of Science from the City University of New York, and is currently deputy director of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety at Yale University. Previous employment included industrial hygiene work at a national laboratory, project management for a consulting engineering firm, university safety work, and biomedical laboratory research.

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