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Second-hand smoke in four English prisons: an air quality monitoring study

Jayes, Leah; Ratschen, Elena; Murray, Rachael L.; Dymond-White, Suzy; Britton, John

Authors

LEAH JAYES LEAH.JAYES@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Assistant Professor

Elena Ratschen

Rachael L. Murray

Suzy Dymond-White

John Britton



Abstract

BACKGROUND: To measure levels of indoor pollution in relation to smoking in four English prisons.
METHODS: TSI SidePak AM510 Personal Aerosol Monitors were used to measure concentrations of particulate matter less than 2.5 mum in diameter (PM2.5) for periods of up to 9 h in selected smoking and non-smoking areas, and personal exposure monitoring of prison staff during a work shift, in four prisons.
RESULTS: PM2.5 data were collected for average periods of 6.5 h from 48 locations on 25 wing landings where smoking was permitted in cells, on 5 non-smoking wings, 13 prisoner cells, and personal monitoring of 22 staff members. Arithmetic mean PM2.5 concentrations were significantly higher on smoking than non-smoking wing landings (43.9 mug/m(3) and 5.9 mug/m(3) respectively, p < 0.001) and in smoking than non-smoking cells (226.2 mug/m(3) and 17.0 mug/m(3) respectively, p < 0.001). Staff members wore monitors for an average of 4.18 h, during which they were exposed to arithmetic mean PM2.5 concentration of 23.5 mug/m(3).
CONCLUSIONS: The concentration of PM2.5 pollution in smoking areas of prisons are extremely high. Smoking in prisons therefore represents a significant health hazard to prisoners and staff members.

Citation

Jayes, L., Ratschen, E., Murray, R. L., Dymond-White, S., & Britton, J. (2016). Second-hand smoke in four English prisons: an air quality monitoring study. BMC Public Health, 16, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2757-y

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 20, 2016
Publication Date Feb 4, 2016
Deposit Date May 12, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal BMC Public Health
Electronic ISSN 1471-2458
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2757-y
Keywords England/epidemiology; Environmental Monitoring; Humans; Particulate Matter/*analysis; Prisons/*statistics & numerical data; Smoking/*epidemiology; Tobacco Smoke Pollution/*analysis;
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/777109
Publisher URL https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-016-2757-y

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