The purpose of this study is to review previous studies on indoor air pollution and to propose national strategies and policy measures for protecting public health from indoor air pollution based on the results of public survey research.
Indoor air has the potential to be polluted by hazardous materials that might lead to serious health problems. It is well known that the indoor spaces are more polluted than outdoor ones, which can be a major health problem for those that live in urban areas who spend most of their time indoors. In Korea, studies on indoor air pollution are usually conducted under the auspices of academic research, which only focus on particular types of indoor spaces and certain concepts of indoor air quality. Thus, at present, the studies on the policies or policy measures concerning indoor air quality management are difficult to find in the country.
The governmental agencies that are presently involved in the management of indoor air quality include: the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Construction and Transportation, Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development, and Ministry of Environment. However, due to differing regulatory standards between the concerned agencies, the national management of indoor air quality has so far proven to be ineffective.
Although the Ministry of Environment recently proposed a law to manage indoor air quality, it is only focuses on managing particular types of indoor spaces not regulated by other governmental bodies and is not effective in the effort towards a national managing system for ind