Air Quality Matters Podcast Por Simon Jones arte de portada

Air Quality Matters

Air Quality Matters

De: Simon Jones
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Air Quality Matters inside our buildings and out.

This Podcast is about Indoor Air Quality, Outdoor Air Quality, Ventilation, and Health in our homes, workplaces, and education settings.

And we already have many of the tools we need to make a difference.

The conversations we have and how we share this knowledge is the key to our success.

We speak with the leaders at the heart of this sector about them and their work, innovation and where this is all going.

Air quality is the single most significant environmental risk we face to our health and wellbeing, and its impacts on us, our friends, our families, and society are profound.

From housing to the workplace, education to healthcare, the quality of the air we breathe matters.

Air Quality Matters


© 2025 Air Quality Matters Ciencia Historia Natural Naturaleza y Ecología
Episodios
  • From Dust to Disease: The Hidden Respiratory Risks in Construction - Angie Brooker #107

    From Dust to Disease: The Hidden Respiratory Risks in Construction - Angie Brooker #107
    Feb 16 2026
    This week, we step into one of the most overlooked yet critical areas of air quality and health: the construction site. While we spend so much time talking about indoor air quality during the operational phase of buildings, there's an entire workforce—construction and demolition workers—who spend their careers in environments that are anything but operational. And the risks they face are profound. We sit down with Angie Brooker, Occupational Health Manager at Multiplex, to explore the layered, dynamic, and often invisible hazards of dust exposure in construction—and what one of the UK's most forward-thinking organisations is doing about it. Key Topics Discussed: The Three Categories of Dust: Wood dust, general construction dust, and silica dust—each with different risks, different sources, and different control measures. Why silica, particularly from artificial stone, has become a focal point of concern. The Complexity of Construction Environments: Why construction sites are uniquely challenging—dynamic spaces, changing materials, multiple trades working on top of each other, high turnover, and the constant tension between program deadlines and health protection. The Artificial Stone Crisis: How engineered stone (containing up to 90% silica) has caused an epidemic of accelerated silicosis globally—and why Multiplex has banned it on all upcoming projects. The Australia case study, the thousand cases identified, and the proactive public health response. Hierarchy of Controls in Practice: From elimination and substitution (banning artificial stone) to engineering controls (on-tool extraction, ventilation) to administrative controls (training, awareness, health intervention tours) to PPE (the right mask, worn correctly, every time). The RPE Challenge: Why respiratory protective equipment is the frontline defence—but also why it's so hard to get right. Facial hair, improper fit, leaving masks hanging like "Christmas decorations," the heat and discomfort, and the cultural resistance to wearing them. Health Intervention Tours (HITs): How Multiplex walks sites monthly, focusing purely on health hazards, giving positive feedback and room-for-improvement interventions, and using personal dust monitors to make the invisible visible. The Silica 25 Programme: Three pillars—prevention (banning artificial stone), protection (appropriate RPE, education, awareness), and detection (health surveillance, lung function testing, baseline chest X-rays). This is a conversation about risk, responsibility, and the long game. It's about recognising that construction workers deserve to retire healthy—and that every day we delay action, we're storing up a public health crisis for the future. GUEST: Angie Brooker - Occupational Health Manager, Multiplex https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-brooker-abba85123/ https://www.multiplex.global/ https://www.lungsatwork.org.uk/ The Air Quality Matters Podcast in Partnership with Farmwood (https://farmwood.co.uk/) - Eurovent (https://www.eurovent.eu/) - Aico (https://www.aico.co.uk/) - Ultra Protect (https://www.ultra-protect.co.uk/air-quality-matters) The One Take Podcast in Partnership with SafeTraces (https://www.safetraces.com/) and Inbiot (https://www.inbiot.es/?utm_campaign=simon&utm_source=airqualitymatters&utm_medium=podcast) Do check them out in the links and on the Air Quality Matters Website. (https://www.airqualitymatters.net/podcast) If you haven't checked out the YouTube channel its here (https://www.youtube.com/@airqualitymatters-SimonJones). Do subscribe if you can, lots more content is coming soon. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: Construction Workers and Air Quality Risk 00:01:38 Meet Angela Brooker: Occupational Health in Construction 00:03:59 The Dust Challenge: Categories and Construction Hazards 00:05:44 The Dynamic Construction Environment: A Complex Risk Landscape 00:14:46 The Latent Disease Problem: Why Long-Term Risks Get Ignored 00:20:23 The Liability Gap: Accountability for Chronic Occupational Disease 00:24:50 The Cultural Challenge: From Bravado to Protection 00:36:06 Artificial Stone and Silicosis: The Accelerated Epidemic 00:34:42 The Silica 25 Program: Prevention, Protection, and Detection 00:09:08 Housekeeping and Hidden Exposures: The Resuspension Risk 01:07:57 Respiratory Protection: The Mask Problem 00:31:48 Health Intervention Tours: Making Health Visible on Site 01:19:47 Monitoring and Measurement: Dust Tracking Technology 01:35:14 Health Surveillance: Early Detection and the Medical System 01:31:58 The Smoking Factor: Compounding the Risk 01:27:12 From Nurse to Construction: Angela's Journey 01:39:19 The Path Forward: Getting the Basics Right 01:42:12 Closing: Resources and Support for Construction Workers
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    1 h y 43 m
  • Mold, Confidence, and Change: What Actually Drives Air Quality Behavior - OT35

    Mold, Confidence, and Change: What Actually Drives Air Quality Behavior - OT35
    Feb 13 2026
    This week, we dive into a powerful piece of research that moves beyond surveys and snapshots to ask: What actually motivates people in deprived urban communities to change their indoor air quality behaviours—and how long does it take? The paper is titled Psychological and Contextual Drivers of Indoor Air Quality Behaviours in a Deprived Urban Community: Evidence from Participatory Research, published in Building and Environment, and it's based on the Well Home Project—an 18-month longitudinal study tracking 110 households in West London. The Central Question Unlike most studies that rely on a quick one-off survey, this was participatory research. They didn't just treat residents as test subjects—they worked with them, engaged them, installed sensors in their homes, and followed them over time across four waves of surveys. This is crucial because we know that air pollution disproportionately affects deprived communities—people living in substandard housing, closer to busy roads, with higher rates of pre-existing health conditions. So understanding what drives them to act is absolutely vital if we want to address health inequalities. But here's the fascinating part: self-efficacy grew over time. At the start of the project, confidence didn't make a huge difference. But as the months went on, people with high self-efficacy became increasingly likely to act. Building that muscle of confidence—that feeling of "I can handle this"—is a process, not a switch. Key Insights: The Mold Effect—Visibility is Key: The strongest predictor of behaviour change in the entire study was the presence of visible mold and damp. If people saw mold, they acted. But mold is a late-stage indicator—by the time you see black spots on your wall, you've probably been breathing in damp air for months. We need to make other pollutants visible before the damage is done. Engagement is a Marathon, Not a Sprint: The longer people were involved in the Well Home Project, the more likely they were to change their behaviour. Sustained engagement is essential—not just a one-off flyer. What Actually Changed: Residents were most likely to report changes in window opening, cooking, and cleaning. But the only behaviours that showed a statistically significant increase over time were cooking and heating. Why? These might require more knowledge or confidence to adopt—things people learned through participation in the project. What Didn't Change: Smoking behaviour showed the lowest likelihood of change. Smoking is an addiction—a deeply habitual chemical dependency. Simply telling someone it's bad for indoor air is unlikely to break a nicotine addiction. Some issues require much more specific, targeted health interventions. The Education Paradox: Individuals with higher levels of education were actually less likely to adopt behavioural changes. The authors speculate this might be a ceiling effect—people with higher education might already be doing some of the right things before the study even started, so they had less room to improve. Participatory Research Works: By working with communities, the researchers didn't just gather data—they helped catalyze change. The residents who stuck with the project became more and more empowered to control their own environment. This is Part Four of a five-part series exploring the psychology and perception of risk around air quality and ventilation. Psychological and Contextual Drivers of Indoor Air Quality Behaviours in a Deprived Urban Community: Evidence from Participatory Research https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114089 The One Take Podcast in Partnership with SafeTraces (https://www.safetraces.com/) and Inbiot (https://www.inbiot.es/?utm_campaign=simon&utm_source=airqualitymatters&utm_medium=podcast) Do check them out in the links and on the Air Quality Matters Website (https://www.airqualitymatters.net/podcast) Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: The Psychology of Indoor Air Quality in West London 00:01:16 The Well Home Project: Participatory Research in Action 00:02:14 The Health Belief Model: Understanding What Drives Action 00:03:36 The Key Findings: Severity and Self-Efficacy Win 00:04:41 The Mold Effect: When Visibility Drives Action 00:05:32 Time and Confidence: The Longitudinal Effect 00:06:23 What Changed and What Didn't: Behavior Breakdown 00:07:49 The Education Paradox: Challenging Our Assumptions 00:08:39 The So What: From Scare Tactics to Empowerment 00:10:07 Closing Thoughts: Residents as Active Agents
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    11 m
  • Platinum Plaques and Broken Fans: The Gap Between Air Quality Theater and Reality 106 Simon Jones

    Platinum Plaques and Broken Fans: The Gap Between Air Quality Theater and Reality 106 Simon Jones
    Feb 9 2026
    Welcome back to a solo episode—it's just me this week, fresh off a plane from Las Vegas and the AHR Expo, and honestly, in a bit of a reflective mood. When you spend a week inside the ultimate sealed box that is Vegas—losing track of time, weather, and what the air is actually doing—it puts things in perspective. It's comfort manufactured at massive scale, designed to keep you sedated, happy, and spending money. And stepping back into the real world, looking at the sheer volume of noise landing on my desk—commissions, pledges, papers, announcements—I had to pause. The Central Question On one hand, we've never had more attention. We have the Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air launching at the UN. We have the Global Pledge. We have Ashrae's new Indoor Environmental Quality Centre of Excellence. It feels like the ground is moving. But on the other hand, I look at who's in the room. I look at the jostling for position. And I have to ask: Is this a genuine revolution, or is it a narrative grab? Are we drawing a line in the sand for public health—or building a new VIP section for the haves, while the have-nots are left outside in the smog? Key Topics Discussed: The Narrative Grab: What happens when a grassroots movement gains enough momentum to become valuable—and the big institutions, legacy corporations, and governing bodies realize they need to own a piece of that story. Is the commission a natural reaction of a sector trying to organize itself? Absolutely. But is it also a narrative grab? Potentially, yes. Who's in the Room—and Who Isn't: When I scroll through the lists of participants and commissioners, I see a lot of familiar names. Big HVAC. Controls. Sensors. Certification bodies. Real estate. Western academics. But where is the social science? Where are the voices from the Global South—not satellite offices, but grassroots? Where are the housing activists fighting damp and mold in public housing? It feels heavy on corporate real estate, heavy on Western technocracy. The Risk of Premium Air: When you turn health into a premium product, you create a two-tier system: platinum-class air for Google headquarters, and the rest of us—schools with windows painted shut, social housing with fans that haven't worked since 2015, industrial units thick with process dust. If the narrative becomes owned by commercial real estate, does clean air become a luxury good you buy, rather than a fundamental human right that is owed? The Mandate Debate: A fascinating clash playing out in the academic literature right now. On one side, a paper in Science led by Lidia Morawska and others: Mandating Indoor Air Quality for Public Buildings. Bold, noble, seductive—strict numerical legal mandates for IAQ in public spaces. On the other side, a response from the folks at ISO TC 146 SC 6 and ASTM D22, raising a critical point: is a global mandate actually workable, or even dangerous? What happens when you apply a Western technological fix to a context that simply cannot support it? Indoor Environmental Quality—The Big Brother of IAQ: Intellectually, it makes sense. We have eyes, ears, skin, as well as lungs. But I'm terrified that air quality is going to get lost in this mix. We've spent decades trying to get people to care about the invisible. Now compare that to thermal comfort—if the room is two degrees too cold, complaints light up instantly. If we bundle IAQ into IEQ, my fear is the budget goes to the things people complain about. The money goes to new LED lighting, sound dampening panels, heat pumps—and the ventilation? Well, as long as nobody's fainting, we'll value-engineer the filters. The Air Quality Matters Podcast in Partnership with Farmwood (https://farmwood.co.uk/) - Eurovent (https://www.eurovent.eu/) - Aico (https://www.aico.co.uk/) The One Take Podcast in Partnership with SafeTraces (https://www.safetraces.com/) and Inbiot (https://www.inbiot.es/?utm_campaign=simon&utm_source=airqualitymatters&utm_medium=podcast) Do check them out in the links and on the Air Quality Matters Website. (https://www.airqualitymatters.net/podcast) If you haven't checked out the YouTube channel its here (https://www.youtube.com/@airqualitymatters-SimonJones). Do subscribe if you can, lots more content is coming soon. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: Reflections from Vegas and the Sealed Box Experiment 00:03:24 The Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air: Progress or Narrative Grab? 00:04:47 Who's Missing from the Table? The Representation Problem 00:06:02 The Narrative Grab: When Air Quality Goes Mainstream 00:08:13 The Premium Product Problem: Clean Air as a Luxury Good 00:13:04 The Mandate Debate: Science Paper vs. Practical Reality 00:15:51 The Parachute Solution: Why One-Size-Fits-All Standards May Fail 00:19:00 Indoor Environmental Quality: The Marvel Movie Problem 00:24:38 The Broken Delivery System: When Platinum Buildings Fail 00:28:12 The Path Forward: From Talking Shops to Ground Truth
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    32 m
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