Pollution of PM10 in an underground enclosed loading dock in Malaysia

The enclosed nature of underground loading docks results in accumulation of motor vehicles emissions. Thus, concentration of numerous harmful air pollutants including PM10 particles can increase and reach dangerous levels. This paper aims to study short-term and long-term exposure of PM10 particles inside an underground loading dock located in Malaysia. In addition, the correlation with indoor temperature, relative humidity and vehicles flow will be measured. The concentrations of PM10 were measured for three consecutive weeks using the real-time air quality monitoring instrument AQM60. Series of statistical tests and multiple linear regression analysis were applied on the data using SPSS software and MATLAB R2013a. The results illustrated that PM10 daily average concentration was in compliance with the Malaysian guideline of 150 µg/m3. Actually, 95% of instantaneous PM10 concentration readings were below 75 μg/m3. In addition, significant correlation were found between PM10 concentration and indoor temperature, relative humidity and the previous concentration. The multiple R and R2 were 0.91 and 0.83, respectively. PM10 concentration was also correlated with motor vehicles flow. In conclusion, health effects of long-term exposure to small repetitive doses of air pollutant inside underground facilities should be studied and appropriate control measures need to be implemented.