The state of the indoor air environment in buildings and related tasks in Japan

• Published in: Journal of the National Institute of Public Health Vol. 69; no. 1; pp. 63 - 72
• Main Authors: HAYASHI, Motoya, KOBAYASHI, Kenichi, KIM, Hoon, KAIHARA, Noriko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Institute of Public Health 01.02.2020
• Subjects: building sanitary; energy saving; Environmental health; health center; indoor air quality
• ISSN: 1347-6459; 2432-0722
• DOI: 10.20683/jniph.69.1_63

The law for environmental health in buildings (LEHB) was enacted in1970. It was believed that sick building syndrome could be prevented by LEHB in the1970's. The recent studies showed that the rate of sick building syndrome in offices is not low. One of the factors in this nonconformity rate of indoor air environment is thought to be energy saving in buildings since the 1990's. In this report, the authors showed the state of indoor air environment in specific buildings and the characteristics of the inspection of these buildings by the health centers of local governments. The results showed that though the owner of specific buildings are obligated to follow the law of environmental health in buildings, the nonconformity rates with indoor air environment are increasing and the risk of sick building syndrome may also be increasing. It is clear that some improvement must be done as soon as possible to avoid an architectural health crisis such as sick building syndrome and indoor infections like influenza, etc