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Objective

Recommendation

Key issues

Actions taken

Objective

To ensure that Tasmanians are not exposed to unacceptable levels of atmospheric pollutants in the home and the workplace.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Department of Community and Health Services collects data on respiratory and related health problems to identify any links between air quality and ill-health. This programme should assess the relative importance of the contribution of indoor and outdoor pollution to ill-health and this information should be taken into account in the allocation of resources for monitoring, remediation and prevention.

Key issues

This information is available from Volume 2 of the last SoE Report (SDAC 1997), which can be downloaded. The final objective, final recommendation, and a summary of key management actions are detailed below.

Actions taken

There has been little progress made in addressing this recommendation on air quality and ill-health. Research on the potential links between ill health and air quality has been limited in Tasmania, particularly as there are problems with conducting meaningful statistical assessments with the small population sizes in the State. However, there have been some actions relevant to the objective of this recommendation since the previous SoE Report (1997), including the following.

• Environment Australia, through the CSIRO and the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, are conducting a Personal Exposure Monitoring Program in Launceston (started in early 2003). The program aims to monitor the total exposure of a sample group of individuals to air pollutants and compare the results with those from the current air quality monitoring station.
   
• Two major studies on indoor air (non-industrial work environments) have been undertaken at the University of Tasmania (Mesaros 1995; Mesaros 1999). This has contributed to some much needed information on the state of some Tasmanian indoor environments.