Indoor Air Quality in Gyms – Case study in the municipality of Coimbra (Portugal) (Poster)

The Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has emerged as a science from the 70s with the energy crisis and the consequent construction of sealed buildings. Only gained worldwide extension after the discovery that the lower rates of air exchange in these environments was largely responsible for the increase in the concentration of pollutants in indoor air. Currently, the population identifies the effects of outdoor pollution on their health. The levels of air pollution inside enclosed spaces outweigh too often, those registered abroad and can cause numerous problems in terms of human health. The present study aims to evaluate the IAQ under the applicable laws in view of the pollutants defined under the National Certification System Energy and Indoor Air Quality in Buildings (RSECE-AQI). The sample consisted of 8 gyms in the municipality of Coimbra and 34 workers from the study sites. To achieve this goal, we proceeded to the analytical evaluation of the physical and chemical parameters and questionnaires were administered to workers. The present study was Level II, observational, with the transversal cohort. The data collected were then processed using the statistical software IBM SPSS version 21.0. The interpretation of statistical tests were based on a significance level of p = 0.05, for a confidence interval of 95%. Given the values of the parameters evaluated, only the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present risk to workers, having been the parameter that has significant amounts of non-compliance in gyms evaluated. The symptoms / illnesses reported by workers with higher representativeness were weariness and sneezing crisis.