So where can someone encounter ultrafine particles? It has to only be in industrial areas where there's lots of machinery and most people are already wearing safety gear, right? Would you believe you could be breathing in these particles at an ice skating rink? And if the rink is not properly ventilated, a dangerous concentration of ultrafine particles could be building up without any one being the wiser. In 2009, a survey was conducted by ESPN's E:60 that revealed over two hundred people who had gotten sick from carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ultrafine particles from poorly maintained ice resurfacers in ice rinks with poor ventilation. The issues caused by this exposure resulted in a range of conditions from carbon monoxide poisoning, the sensation that one man felt like he was having a heart attack, to asthma which was being caused by the tiny particles.
Since ultrafine particles are so small, they are considered respirable particles and get deposited in the lungs when someone breaths them in where they can penetrate the tissue to join other metabolic waste byproducts or absorb directly into the bloodstream. As you might imagine, this can make ultrafine particles difficult to remove from the body either naturally or through medical treatment, a serious problem for those who are exposed to dangerous amounts of ultrafine particles. Our bodies can safely handle a certain concentration of ultrafine particles on its own, but because of the nature of these particles they can have a quick effect on the body so even brief exposure to a poorly ventilated ice rink could cause health complications. The worst part is that, aside from a few states, there isn't any sort of safety regulations to monitor or regulate the amount of ultrafine particles that can be allowed in the air before people are asked to leave for their own health.
To put it simply, these particles are still a relatively new threat and isn't understood as well as others; as such we aren't entirely sure how to handle them yet. Luckily, normal ventilation works wonders on keeping ice rinks, and other sources of the fine particles, at a safe concentration where people can go about their business safely. There are several models of dynamic ventilation systems that use CO and NO2 sensors to start ventilation when CO and NO2 levels start to become dangerous as a power saver that have the added bonus of being relatively cost-effective to install. Normally, this wouldn't bear mention; however the cause of ultrafine particles is also the cause of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide which means the simplest way to control the level of these particles is to have a good ventilation system. The concentration of ultrafine particles becomes dangerous at around the same point in time that CO and NO2 become dangerous for people to breathe which is how this danger has gone un-noticed for so long. So find out if your local ice skating rink is safe to skate at before going there on a date or family outing, maybe it's time that they updated or replaced their ventilation system to something that's better at keeping people happy and healthy.
For more information about Ultrafine Particle Pollution, visit http://www.conspec-controls.com/.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stan_Ramsey
