Environmental Quality in Underground Railways |
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Background
London Underground Report Prof. Nick Priest Media Articles
Academic Papers Passive
smoking Contra-viewpoint References |
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This
page contains a collection of information built up from 1996 by Dr Ben
Croxford, Lecturer on the MSc Environmental Design and
Engineering course at the Bartlett
Faculty of Built Environment, UCL
University College London. If you like
this page, or if you know something and want me to add it, or if you don’t
like something tell me. Dr Ben
Croxford, (4th December /2003) |
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Background
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Research conducted by an MSc student Veronica Regini
(2000) found very high levels of particulates in the underground system.
Several small monitoring surveys showed, both high mass concentrations and
particle numbers. Most particles were in the 2.5 micron diameter size
fraction. Up to 20 times more by mass concentration and up to 70 times more
by number, of these small particles were found on the platform of Goodge
Street northern line than in the street nearby and an office nearby. Using a Grimm 1.105
sampler. This work complements that of Professor Nick Priest at
University of Middlesex, who found the Northern line to have the highest
levels of particle mass concentration using a mini-ram sampler. This work was reported in the Independent newspaper, with
follow up stories in the Evening Standard, Hendon times, and on the BBC. |
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London Underground
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London Underground has conducted several studies and the
most recent of these is a review report containing information about all
previous studies. The main conclusions are that no link between the
underground environment and health has been found. In a more recent LUL report, by the Institute of Occupational Medicine,
ultrafine particles are reviewed also, this report suggests that the main
health impact of particulate matter in general is from the smallest particles
with aerodynamic diameters much less than 1 micron. NUMBERS of these are much
higher above ground than underground, this report proposes that these provide
the major health risk and that the health risk to workers and the public is
not significant from travelling in the London Underground. They still find
that levels of PM in general are very high in the underground system but that
our bodies can remove these particles effectively. http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/pressreleases/0309/dust_report_sep03.pdf |
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London Hazard Centre report of asbestos in the tube |
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20 minutes on the tube = 1 cigarette?
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A journalist asked me to compare smoking with travel on the tube, the following estimate is not based on health effects just on mass of particulate matter. (This is my unproven estimate, if anyone has any comments or
improvements please email me, it was based on several large assumptions to
get a ball park figure.) 20 minutes on the Northern line = 1 cigarette. Street level concentration = 50 micrograms/m3 Tube platform level concentration = 1000 micrograms/m3 Cigarette mainstream smoke mass concentration = 15000
micrograms/m3 If you inhale every 4th breath and take 5 mins to smoke, Tube = every breath for how many minutes on the tube = 1 cig Does 15000/4 = 3750 for 5 minute roughly equivalent to 1000 for 20 minutes? http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=464527
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Updated info on cigarette comparison, based on info from http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/monographs/13/m13_2.pdf Average smokers have inter-puff times of 34 seconds (US
DHHS 1988) Mean puff volume of 43ml Federal Tobacco Commission (FTC) average puff volume for a
cigarette is about 0.3l of smoke, study found a maximum of 1.4l of smoke per
cigarette. Average FTC puffs per cigarette = 9 These figures roughly match the ones above, 1 puff every
30 seconds 9 puffs so 4.5 mins
per cigarette. |
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Professor
Nick Priest
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British Lung Foundation, |
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Media
Articles
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BBC London |
Particulates on the tube, story by Andrew Winstanley,
quoting Ken Livingstone GLA, Prof Malcolm Green British Lung Foundation http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/news/travel/tube_dust_011001.shtml |
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Hendon Times |
http://www.hendon-times.co.uk/local_london/hendon_and_finchley/news/NEWS0.html |
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Evening Standard |
LU air '73 times worse than street level' http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/top_story.html?in_review_id=411776&in_review_text_id=361122 40 minutes on the Northern Line = 2 cigarettes http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=464527 and more recently http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonlife/articles/1262027 |
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Independent Newspaper |
Tube air 'a danger to very young and elderly' http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=82494 |
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Amaretto ad campaign idea reference http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=353281 |
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http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/link.asp?id=w5b7k3urrg15lvng Washington
Underground Study to characterise both bio and non bio aerosols. (Abstract
Only) |
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Summary of evidence of passive smoking and health |
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Smoking Out Bad Science, By Lorraine Mooney, Wall Street
Journal - European Edition (March 12, 1998) An article questioning passive smoking links to poor
health. |
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MSc EDE students work |
A forthcoming paper will show the results from Veronica
Regini’s MSc dissertation, Particle size fraction distribution in a London
Underground station, Croxford B, Regini V. A further study looked at thermal comfort on tube trains.
Kikira M, 2000, |
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Magnetic collection of dust in the tube |
Flanders Pj, 1994, Collection, Measurement, And Analysis
Of Airborne Magnetic Particulates From Pollution In The Environment, Journal
Of Applied Physics 75 (10): 5931-5936, Part 2a May 15 Flanders PJ, 1999, Identifying fly ash at a distance from
fossil fuel power stations, Environmental Science & Technology, 33 (4):
528-532 Feb 15 1999 |
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References |
ASH, Key dates in anti-tobacco legislation, ASH http://www.ash.org.uk/html/schools/keydates.php
[accessed Aug 2002], 2000. Bowsher, Jason, Imperial College Centre for Environmental
Technology, London, personal communication 1999. Bruce, J. Graeme, Tube Trains Under London, London
Transport, London, 1968. Couty B., Attoui MB, Parfait C, Renoux A, Comparison of
dust concentration measures using the Grimm dust counter, the Tapered Element
Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM 1400A) and the Dust Trak system, Proceedings
Of The 14th French Congress On Aerosols CFA 98, Paris, France, December 8-9,
1998, Ch.33, pp.241-246 Day, John Robert, The Story of London's Underground,
London Transport, London, 1974, Enlarged edition, 190p. Dockery DW, Pope CA, Xu X, Spengler JD, Ware JH, Fay ME,
Ferris BG, Speizer FE, 1993, An
Association between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six US Cities, New England
Journal of Medicine 1993;
329:1753-9. Freeman A, http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/8414/tube.htm
[accessed Jun 2001], 1999. Geotechnical Instruments 2000, Airwatch PM1500 carbon dioxide monitor, http://www.geotech.co.uk/pdf/brochures/bro_airwatch-pm1500.pdf Grimm 1.174, Grimm Labortechnik Ltd. Manual for the Dust
Monitor 1.10x and software 1.174, Ainring, also technical specifications,
1995, http://www.dustmonitor.com/Monitors/Occupational/1105.htm [accessed
June 2001]. Hawkins L., Dust in the London Underground, Report for
London Underground, by the Robens Centre for Occupational Health and Safety,
Guildford UK. 2001 Onset Computer Corporation, HOBO H8 datalogger, http://www.onsetcomputer.com/Products/Product_Pages/HOBO_H08/2558_h08rhtempliex.html
[accessed Aug 2002], 1996 Lippman M, Thurston GD. "Sulfate Concentrations as an
Indicator of Ambient Particulate Matter Air Pollution for Health Risk
Evaluation s." J Exposure Anal Environ Epidemiol 1996; 6:123-46 London Transport, personal communication, 2000. London Transport, Dust in the London Underground, Internal
Report, 1979. Mazoue S, Gabay D, Renoux A, Attoui M, Filtration trials
in-situ in a metropolitan environment Proceedings Of The 14th French Congress
On Aerosols CFA 98, Paris, France, December 8-9, 1998, Ch.33, pp.91-96 National Air Quality Archive, AEA
Technologyhttp://www.airquality.co.uk/ [accessed Aug 2002] Priest N.D., Burns G. and Gorbunov B., Dust Levels on the
London Underground: a health hazard to commuters? Management Journal of
Occupational Health Safety and Environment, 1999, Vol 3, Issue 1 Regini, V, London Tube: Miss the train, cool down, there
are other issues, MSc Built Environment dissertation, Bartlett School of
Graduate Studies, (UCL) University College London, 1999. Sitzmann B., Kendall M., and Watt J., Characterisation of
Airborne Particles in London by Computer Controlled Scanning Electron
Microscopy, The Science of The Total Environment, Volume 241, Issues 1-3, 29
October 1999, Pages 63-73 |
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