INDOOR AIR QUALITY OF SMOKING ROOMS IN NIGHTCLUBS

Abstract

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) refers to exposure to tobacco smoke, not from your smoking, but from being exposed to someone else's cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke. ETS can also be described as the material in indoor air that originates from tobacco smoke. Breathing in ETS is known as passive smoking, second-hand smoke, or involuntary smoking. This dissertation will focus on four pollutants that are present in the smoking rooms in nightclubs, namely carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, total volatile organic compounds and dust. An experiment was done to measure the amount of these pollutants in the smoking rooms of two nightclubs, Ministry of Sound Singapore and St. James Power Station. Surveys were also done by 50 respondents which describe which symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) they experienced while occupying the rooms. The objective of this research is to have a better understanding of how ETS is harmful to our bodies and comparing the ventilation in the smoking rooms of the two nightclubs that were chosen. The smoking areas were first identified and analyzed and several air quality readings in these areas were taken. Following that, surveys were done by the patrons to find out if they suffered from various symptoms of SBS. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were made to ensure that the research is better-rounded and in depth. From the experimental results, we see a direct correlation between the number of smokers present in the room and the various pollutants produced. There is a significant increase in the amount of pollutants produced with a greater number of smokers. In general, the ventilation system in St. James Power Station is assumed to be more effective than the one in MOS as the gradient of the graphs shown were not as steep as those representing MOS. The survey results show an inclination towards St. James Power Station as well, because fewer patrons suffer from symptoms of SBS than in MOS.