A variety of industrial hygienists have expressed opinions that the usage of ozone by restoration contractors is unsafe and shouldn’t be used. The difficulty is that many fireplace and smoke restoration firms use ozone to take away odors, despite the fact that they’ve been warned about these issues in their very own commerce journal.

A 2022 article revealed by Restoration & Remediation Journal, Using Ozone in Hearth Restoration: Is It a Good friend or a Foe?, states:

Are There Well being Dangers Related With Utilizing Ozone?

Most of my colleagues within the restoration business really feel that ozone is pure to our surroundings and comparatively innocent. For example this, listed here are some feedback made by a producer of ozone turbines: ‘Ozone is a extremely efficient pure sterilizer that may inactivate virtually any natural contaminant on contact. As it’s a extremely reactive fuel, ozone frequently reverts again to its most steady type by releasing one in all its atoms to show again into oxygen (from O3 to O2). As ozone is a fuel composed fully of oxygen, it leaves no chemical residue in anyway. The one by-product remaining is recent, clear air.’

That sounds fairly wonderful, proper? Let’s take a better look and see what scientists and authorities companies must say about ozone.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Well being and Security studies that: ‘Even very low concentrations of ozone will be dangerous to the higher respiratory tract and the lungs. The severity of harm depends upon each the focus of ozone and the period of publicity. Extreme and everlasting lung harm or loss of life may consequence from even a really short-term publicity to comparatively low concentrations.’

The U.S. Environmental Safety Company states that ozone publicity will be particularly hazardous for those who have respiratory illnesses equivalent to bronchial asthma and COPD. Folks with bronchial asthma are doubtless affected by ozone in two methods: (1) They could be extra delicate to ozone than different individuals, and expertise lung operate adjustments and respiratory signs at decrease concentrations or with higher magnitude; and (2) the harm, irritation and elevated airway reactivity induced by ozone publicity could worsen an individual’s underlying bronchial asthma.

The Nationwide Institutes of Well being has recognized the next well being results related to ozone publicity: 

• Nervous system disturbances: Nervous system results aside from narcosis

• Respiratory results aside from irritation: Cumulative lung harm

• Respiratory results: Acute lung harm/edema or different

• Irritation: Eyes, nostril, throat, pores and skin

The article concludes with the next warning:

If you will use ozone turbines in indoor environments, take the mandatory precautions to guard employees and occupants. Think about the next:

1. Present occupants and employees with a security knowledge sheet on ozone so everyone seems to be knowledgeable.
2. Take away or defend any gadgets or supplies that could be adversely affected by ozone publicity.
3. Arrange correct environmental controls and place warning indicators across the space the place ozone might be used.
4. Present employees with correct PPE and keep away from working in areas the place ozone is being generated.
5. When the ozone therapy is full, completely ventilate the world earlier than permitting employees to reenter.

Conduct air sampling after ozone use to confirm that ozone ranges are secure and that no poisonous chemical compounds or byproducts stay.

The actual query is whether or not fireplace and smoke restoration firms must be doing this in any respect. The science means that the degrees of ozone wanted to successfully take away odors creates an unsafe construction throughout and after the method is accomplished.   

America Environmental Safety Company raised this level by stating in a research, Ozone Turbines which might be Bought as Air Cleaners:  

Are Ozone Turbines Efficient in Controlling Indoor Air Air pollution?

Out there scientific proof reveals that at concentrations that don’t exceed public well being requirements, ozone has little potential to take away indoor air contaminants.

Some producers or distributors recommend that ozone will render nearly each chemical contaminant innocent by producing a chemical response whose solely by-products are carbon dioxide, oxygen and water. That is deceptive.

• First, a evaluation of scientific analysis reveals that, for most of the chemical compounds generally present in indoor environments, the response course of with ozone could take months or years (Boeniger, 1995). For all sensible functions, ozone doesn’t react in any respect with such chemical compounds. And opposite to particular claims by some distributors, ozone turbines will not be efficient in eradicating carbon monoxide (Salls, 1927; Shaughnessy et al., 1994) or formaldehyde (Esswein and Boeniger, 1994).

• Second, for most of the chemical compounds with which ozone does readily react, the response can type quite a lot of dangerous or irritating by-products (Weschler et al., 1992a, 1992b, 1996; Zhang and Lioy, 1994). For instance, in a laboratory experiment that blended ozone with chemical compounds from new carpet, ozone diminished many of those chemical compounds, together with these which may produce new carpet odor. Nonetheless, within the course of, the response produced quite a lot of aldehydes, and the full focus of natural chemical compounds within the air elevated reasonably than decreased after the introduction of ozone (Weschler, et. al., 1992b). Along with aldehydes, ozone might also enhance indoor concentrations of formic acid (Zhang and Lioy, 1994), each of which may irritate the lungs if produced in ample quantities. Among the potential by-products produced by ozone’s reactions with different chemical compounds are themselves very reactive and able to producing irritating and corrosive by-products (Weschler and Shields, 1996, 1997a, 1997b). Given the complexity of the chemical reactions that happen, further analysis is required to extra utterly perceive the complicated interactions of indoor chemical compounds within the presence of ozone.

• Third, ozone doesn’t take away particles (e.g., mud and pollen) from the air, together with the particles that trigger most allergic reactions. Nonetheless, some ozone turbines are manufactured with an ‘ion generator’ or ‘ionizer’ in the identical unit. An ionizer is a tool that disperses negatively (and/or positively) charged ions into the air. These ions connect to particles within the air giving them a damaging (or constructive) cost in order that the particles could connect to close by surfaces equivalent to partitions or furnishings, or connect to 1 one other and settle out of the air. In latest experiments, ionizers had been discovered to be much less efficient in eradicating particles of mud, tobacco smoke, pollen or fungal spores than both excessive effectivity particle filters or electrostatic precipitators. (Shaughnessy et al., 1994; Pierce, et al., 1996). Nonetheless, it’s obvious from different experiments that the effectiveness of particle air cleaners, together with electrostatic precipitators, ion turbines, or pleated filters varies extensively (U.S. EPA, 1995).

There may be proof to indicate that at concentrations that don’t exceed public well being requirements, ozone will not be efficient at eradicating many odor-causing chemical compounds.

The underside line is that many within the fireplace and smoke remediation business are utilizing these machines that use ozone to take away the smoke odor. The producers promoting these ozone machines need to maintain promoting them. The development is that industrial hygienists are stating opinions that we should always cease utilizing this methodology as a result of it isn’t secure and citing to scientific papers for proof of their opinions.   

The place are the scientific papers supporting smoke removing by these ozone machines is secure? I couldn’t discover them.    

Thought For The Day      

It takes management to enhance security.

—Jackie Stewart