Air quality in and around airport enclosed smoking rooms

Smoking rooms have been installed in some airports to allow indoor smoking. There have been few field studies to measure fine particle leakage in operational smoking rooms. The objective of the research was to assess air quality inside and outside the 4 smoking rooms located within a medium-sized, regional commercial airport.

Particulate matter less than 2.5-microm (PM(2.5)) concentrations were simultaneously measured inside and outside the 4 smoking rooms in the airport and in the public lobby. The monitoring was conducted during normal hours of operation. Numbers of people and smokers were counted. The airport had separate ventilation systems for all 4 rooms checked by the airport prior to monitoring, and they were operating properly.

Although there were few smokers in each room, average PM(2.5) concentrations inside the smoking rooms were significantly higher than the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for 24 hr (35 microg/m(3)). Fine particles from secondhand smoke (SHS) leaked to the outside in 3 of the 4 smoking rooms, exposing workers and the public.

Although the ventilation systems in the smoking rooms were operating properly, fine particles from SHS leaked to the surrounding smoke-free areas in the airport. Indoor space inside airports should be completely nonsmoking, and enclosed smoking rooms are not recommended.