ASHRAE Journal - October 2020 - 69

COLUMN IEQ APPLICATIONS

trends beyond its scope, such as electronic cigarettes
and cannabis.

Background
This section describes ASHRAE's extensive involvement
in healthful and comfortable indoor environments; it provides conclusions of the national and international expert
health groups, some history of the early studies and the lack
of an acceptable threshold for ETS exposure. References are
given showing that smoking bans are effective.
When smoking is permitted indoors, the position
document discusses three general cases of space use and
smoking activity in sequence from most to least effective
in controlling ETS exposure: 1) allowing smoking only
in isolated rooms; 2) allowing smoking in separate but
not isolated spaces; and 3) totally mixing occupancy of
smokers and nonsmokers.
For case 1, even when all practical means of separation
and isolation of smoking areas are used, adverse health
effects from exposure in nonsmoking spaces in the same
building cannot be eliminated. For case 2, limited evidence is available, but none supports the signiﬁcant reduction of health effects on those exposed. For case 3, no currently available or reasonably anticipated engineering
approach exists that can adequately control or signiﬁcantly
reduce the health risks of ETS to an acceptable level.
This section ends by mentioning current trends that
are beyond the position document's scope and that may
require more research: electronic nicotine delivery
systems (which are addressed in an ASHRAE Emerging
Issue Brief4), cannabis, hookahs and third-hand smoke
(which results from the release of contaminants from
clothing and other surfaces).

environment from smoking cannabis, using hookahs,
using electronic nicotine delivery systems and engaging in other activities commonly referred to as vaping or
using e-cigarettes.

Conclusion
ASHRAE has come a long way. I believe we all have
reason to be proud of the impact on public health that
a dedicated organization of public-minded individuals
can have on the actions of governments and others who
exercise control over buildings.

References

1. ASHRAE. 2020. "ASHRAE Position Document on Environmental
Tobacco Smoke." tinyurl.com/y6owcjfs.
2. World Health Organization. 2019. "Report on the Global Tobacco
Epidemic, 2019." WHO/NMH/PND/2019.5. tinyurl.com/y32bo4u6.
3. CDC. Undated. "Smokefree Policies Do Not
Hurt the Hospitality Industry." Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. tinyurl.com/yxzqkuqo.
4. ASHRAE Environmental Health Committee.
2017. "Emerging Issue Brief: Electronic Nicotine
Delivery Systems (ENDS) in Indoor Environments,
https://bit.ly/3bajige
Also Known as E-cigs/E-cigarettes/'Vaping.'"
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tinyurl.com/yy694pp2.

Recommendations
Following is an abbreviated summary of ASHRAE's
commitments and recommendations:
* Complete elimination of smoking inside and near
buildings, including multifamily buildings, should be
encouraged, since this is the only means of avoiding
health effects;
* No ASHRAE documents should claim to provide acceptable indoor air quality in smoking spaces;
* Design practitioners should work with their clients
and inform them of the limits of engineering controls; and
* Further research should be conducted by cognizant
health authorities on the health effects in the indoor
O CTO B E R 2020

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ASHRAE Journal - October 2020

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