Air Quality in Dublin Pubs before and after the Introduction of the Workplace Smoking Ban in Ireland

Goodman, P. G.1, McCaffrey, M.1, McLaughlin, J.2, and Kelleher, K.2

1 School of Physics, Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin St, Dublin 8 Ireland
2 School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

Corresponding author: Dr. Patrick G. Goodman
    School of Physics, Dublin Institute of Technology
    Kevin St, Dublin 8
    Ireland
    Telephone: + 353-1-4024782
    Fax number: + 353-1-4024988
    E-mail: pat.goodman@dit.ie

CEJOEM 2007, Vol.13. No.1.: 91–99

Key words:
PM2.5, PM10, benzene, ultrafine particles, smoking ban, environmental tobacco smoke

Abbreviations:
ETS
PM2.5
PM10
Pubs 
Ultrafine particles		 = Environmental Tobacco Smoke
= Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm
= Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm
= Public houses, licensed for the sale of alcohol
= Particles in the size range 1 × 10–9m to 1 × 10–6m

Abstract:
In March 2004 the Irish Government introduced a national ban on smoking in the workplace. The motivation of the ban was to protect workers from the harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke while they were at work. This study used three methods to determine the effectiveness of the ban in a selection of 12 Dublin pubs. These pubs were monitored during the period October 2003 to March 2004, pre ban, and October 2004 to March 2005, post ban. Airborne particulates PM10, PM2.5 and condensation nuclei (fine/ultrafine) were simultaneously measured in each venue, for a minimum of 3 hours, benzene levels were also measured. The post-ban measurements were made on the same day of the week and time of day as the pre-ban measurements, controlling for daily and seasonal patterns. The indoor concentrations showed the following reductions comparing the pre- and post-ban periods, ultrafine particles (87,400 to 27,000 particles·cm–3) 69% reduction, PM2.5 (22.2 to 7.9 µgm–3) 64% reduction, and benzene (17.7 to 3.5 µgm–3) an 80% reduction, all of these were significant, there was no significant change in the outdoor levels of these pollutants. The indoor PM10 levels did not show a significant reduction. These results indicate that in contrast to PM10 the ultrafine/fine particles, PM2.5 and benzene are good markers to evaluate changes in ETS exposure, and that the smoking ban has been very successful at improving indoor air quality and reducing ETS exposure in Dublin pubs.

Received: 21 August 2007
Accepted: 05 September 2007
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