
Indoor air quality and material safety
Indoor air quality can be negatively affected by the materials used in building interiors, often due to the emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). The EPA describes VOCs as gasses emitted from certain solids or liquids that can include a variety of harmful chemicals—some of which have both short and long-term adverse health effects. VOCs are emitted from many everyday things including paints, furnishings, office equipment like printers and copiers, cleaning supplies, and building materials—with concentrations consistently recorded up to ten times higher indoors than outdoors.