Forty people attended the XVII edition of the of health and wellness cluster organized by the Actua program. The session dealt essentially with the relevance for our health of building materials that can be found inside the buildings where we live and work.
The session was opened by the director general of FEDA, Albert Moles, who highlighted the importance of the work done by the Andorran Association for Interiors Environmental Quality (AAQAI) and the President of the organization, Josep Sobrevias, who noted that people spend 80% of their lives inside buildings.
Principat Qualipreven’s auditor and consultant Xavier Tomàs started his presentation with a question: “How do we value the current regulations in Andorra?”. The answer of the participants was clear: the existing national legislation is very limited. Tomàs mentioned many indoor environmental pollutants to monitor both national and international existing legislations.
The certified inspector for asbestos diagnosis inside buildings and facilities, Joan de Monserrat, focused on asbestos, being one of the most dangerous indoor environmental pollutants. Monserrat mentioned the massive asbestos distribution during the 70s and the 80s for being an effective insulator, although it is also a major cause of lung cancers. This component has been actively used until 1997 in France and until 2002 in Spain. Although it may seem a distant subject, it is still very present, as the buildings constructed during these periods are still habitable. For this reason, Monserrat has highlighted the importance of prevention techniques in buildings with asbestos. Monserrat ended up with his speech considering this issue not merely a labor health, but a true public health problem.
The director general of Bocalis in Madrid, Julio Vidal, said workshops are important to address normalization issued and therefore the creation of future regulations. Several workshops are already dealing with climate control and indoor environmental quality in order to find solutions to growing problems, such as AEN / CTN 100 or 171. Vidal said this was just the first phase of work to get a legal regulation and therefore enhance long-term solutions.
Albert Villamayor, managing director at Albert Villamayor Arquitectura Andorra, introduced sustainable architecture as a new concept of architecture widely linked to indoor environmental quality. From the drafting, through the implementation phase of the project until the end use of the building, we are make decisions that affect the environmental quality. Villamayor warned about the importance of the choice of materials according to its use. For example, he mentioned a coat of paint that reduces electromagnetic fields in interiors. Villamayor remarked, finally, how the buildings’ life cycles have a significant impact on indoor environmental quality.
The director of the Ontomèdic Institute, Angels Codina, was the last participant. She emphasized the importance of indoor environmental quality and warned about the large number of completely unknown diseases that come from the interiors. Codina explained the concept of geo pathogenic areas, ie areas with a higher probability of causing diseases. Codina took the example from the WiFi waves that may develop dizziness, headaches, and troubles with memory and attention. She concluded that the main objective of the indoor environmental quality is health.
