Leading the way in Formaldehyde testing and standards
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
“Following the recent reports of possible high formaldehyde levels in some relocatable accommodation units supplied by another company and currently in use in the Northern Territory, We commissioned Simmonds and Bristow a well known and respected Scientific and Engineering Services provider to conduct independent air quality, specifically formaldehyde testing in some of our relocatable units.With the purpose of the units being for residential accommodation, the results were compared to the indoor air quality guidelines for formaldehyde. At present no indoor air quality guidelines exist specifically for formaldehyde. The interim indoor air quality guidelines released by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in 1996 have since been rescinded, but not replaced and are still referred to by industry due to the lack of current guidelines. The indoor air quality guideline in this publication was 0.1ppm. In 2006 the Department of Health and Ageing National Industrial Chemicals Notification and
Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) produced a report recommending a revised formaldehyde indoor air quality guideline of 0.08ppm.
Based on the above guidelines (both the NHMRC 1996 - later rescinded and the NICNAS 2006 recommended) the formaldehyde measurements recorded in our units are below these guidelines.”
Further reading on this subject can be found in the following references:
References:
NICNAS (2006). Formaldehyde. Priority Existing Chemical Assessment Report No. 28. Department of
Ageing and Health. National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme.
http://www.nicnas.gov.au/Publications/CAR/PEC/PEC28.asp. Accessed April 2008.
NICNAS (2007). Formaldehyde in the Indoor Environment of Caravans, Mobile Homes and Demountable
Buildings. Department of Ageing and Health. National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment
Scheme.
http://www.nicnas.gov.au/Publications/Information_Sheets/Safety_Information_Sheets.asp.
Accessed April 2008.
NHMRC (1996) Interim National Air Quality Goals. National Health and Medical Research Council.
Available:
http://www.environment.gov.au/atmosphere/airquality/publications/sok/chapter6.html
