Poor air quality in workplaces constitutes a great concern on human health as a good fraction of our time is spent at work. In Greece, very unique workplaces are the street corner kiosks, which are freestanding boxes placed on sidewalks next to city streets and vehicular traffic, where one can find many consumer goods. As such, its employees are exposed to both outdoor and indoor air pollutants. Very few studies have examined the occupational exposure of kiosk workers to air pollutants, and thus the magnitude of this unique indoor and outdoor exposure remains unknown. The objective of this study is to investigate and compare the levels of indoor and outdoor particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5), ultrafine particles (UFPs) and black carbon (BC) in different kiosks located in Athens, Greece, in urban-traffic and urban-background environments. Continuous measurements of the above-mentioned pollutants were carried out on a 24-h basis over 7 consecutive days at three kiosks from September to October 2019. Indoor PM₁₀ concentrations in the urban kiosk ranged from 19.0 to 44.0 μg/m³, PM_2.5 values ranged from 14.0 to 33.0 μg/m³, whereas BC concentrations ranged from 1.2 to 7.0 μg/m³ and UFPs from almost 9.5 to 47.0 × 10³ pt/cm³. Outdoor PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 measurements ranged from 29.0 to 59.0 μg/m³ and from 22.0 to 39.0 μg/m³, respectively. BC outdoor concentrations ranged from 1.1 to 2.2 μg/m³. The mean hazard quotient (HQ) for PM₁₀ (4.9) and PM_2.5 (4.7) among all participants was >1. The health risk of exposure to PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 was found to be at moderate hazard levels, although in some cases we observed HQ values higher than 10 due to high PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 concentrations in the kiosks. Overall our study indicates that people working at kiosks can be exposed to very high concentrations on particulate pollution depending on a number of factors including the traffic that strongly depends on location and the time of the day.

The authors would like to replace <14. W03.31.000 > with <N075-15-2021-574> in the acknowledgement. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

The concentrations, size distributions, and elemental compositions of atmospheric aerosol particles over a small but representative (in terms of size, population, and geographical characteristics) insular coastal city in the North Aegean Sea were measured during winter and summer. Mean PM_2.0 and PM_1.0 concentrations at the city centre were respectively 26 and 21 μg m⁻³ during the cold period, and 21 and 15 μg m⁻³ during the warm period. Although these concentrations are considerably lower compared to corresponding values of PM_2.5 and PM_1.0 recorded in large cities in the region, they are still very close to the mean annual standards set by the EU for PM_2.5. Higher average mass concentrations (by ca. 26–36% for Total Suspended Particles, PM_2.0 and PM_1.0) were observed in the cold period compared to those in the warm period due to the additional emissions from domestic heating and the weaker atmospheric dilution. The elemental composition measurements showed that crustal and anthropogenic elements (i.e., K, Ca, Ti, Mg, Fe, As, S) in the collected particle samples were also enriched when polluted air masses were transported from Northeastern Turkey. These measurements also showed that natural sources contribute sea-salt and re-suspended soil to the particulate matter load in the city's atmosphere. Non-exhaust traffic emission sources were also found to be an important contributor, as indicated by the good correlations (R² = 0.40–0.91) between crustal and traffic-related elements (i.e., Zn, Cr, Cu, and Mn). Overall, PM measurements in the urban environment in the region are relatively high, being influenced by both local sources and long-transported air masses.

As a growing percentage of the population is working in office buildings worldwide, air quality in these indoor environments is becoming of particular importance for assessing health impacts from exposure to different pollutants. Apart from the common indoor air pollution sources, the presence of a variety of electronics such as printers, copier machines and other equipment in office buildings may present a high health risk because of their emissions of gases and particles. The aim of this study is to review and compare available measurements of the most commonly reported indoor particulate matter (PM) fractions in office environments and the methodological approaches that were used for the assessment of air quality and associated health effects. Data from forty-nine studies conducted in twenty-four countries around the world were included in this review. Half of these studies report measurements of indoor air pollution concentrations at a fixed point, with half of those using portable devices for assessing the personal exposure of employees in a direct way. The results showed that indoor concentrations for all air pollutants were higher than those measured outdoors, and that they increased during working hours. The average PM levels in offices ranged from 14 to 333 μg/m ³ for particles having diameters up to 10 μm (PM ₁₀ ), and 4–227.44 μg/m ³ for particles having diameters up to 2.5 μm (PM _2.5 ). Results also showed that many health effects like eye irritation, dry throat, runny nose, sneezing, cough, tiredness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, headache, dizziness, and skin irritation reported through questionnaires by employees were associated with these pollutants, while being influenced by gender and environmental factors such as temperature and relative humidity.