Danger indoors

Researchers at the University of Essex will launch a software package this week designed to predict the exposure to pollution suffered by people in indoor urban environments.

The package, called the Urban Exposure Module, is a management decision software tool aimed at helping administrators quantify and deal with the health risks associated with pollution in urban environments. Its use could help in the understanding and possibly prevention of major health problems that are caused by airborne pollutants.

The Urban Exposure Module provides local, regional and national governments with a system to translate measured outdoor pollution concentrations or emissions into real health risks for people in domestic environments and will enable more effective air pollution control strategies to be developed and administered.

It is the culmination of a collaborative three year European Union funded project which has seen the Essex team work with partners across Europe. The new software has already been unveiled in Oslo and Prague and will be launched in the UK at a London workshop on Wednesday 29 June.