High Carbon Monoxide Levels Measured in Enclosed Skating Rinks

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) levels were measured in enclosed skating rinks in the Boston area. The 1 hr National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 35 ppm was exceeded in 82% of the sampled hours. In a separate study, alveolar breath samples were taken of 12 Harvard hockey players, indicating a fivefold increase in carboxyhemoglobin levels after 93 min of exercise in air with a relatively low 25 ppm CO concentration.

This paper demonstrates that exercising athletes are incurring physiologically dangerous levels of carboxyhemoglobin when performing in legal ambient air concentrations of CO—25 ppm, and concentrations of the poisonous gas in many indoor skating rinks regularly exceed the national ambient standards by as much as 300%.

It is suggested that the Clean Air Act should be amended to include indoor public exposure to at least the criteria pollutants of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and suspended particulates. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency should require revisions in State Implementation Plans to ensure state responsibility for public air pollution exposures indoors. Finally, it is suggested that rink maintenance machinery be redesigned to reduce noxious output by shifting to electrical motors, by upgrading pollution control equipment, or by routine use of ventilation equipment.