HEALTH2: A Holistic Environmental Assessment Lay Tool for Home Health

Although the adverse health effects of poor indoor air quality on occupants from mold and dampness in indoor environments are well described, there is no reliable empirical tool to evaluate indoor mold and dampness levels in the home for use by the medical profession and health safety regulatory bodies. The economic impact to society approaches $40 billion a year in North America alone from the cost of health care and workplace lost productivity. Mobilizing corrective action necessitates an acceptable home environment evaluation method. This paper proposes a reliable empirical model and tool, the Holistic Environmental Assessment Lay Tool for Home Healthiness, and develops guidelines for its use as a tool to evaluate and rank mold and dampness related indoor environmental conditions associated with known respiratory health outcomes. HEALTH2 was calibrated using theoretical homes and then validated using data from 269 home evaluations where occupant health and the home environment factors were collected. R...