|
Providing
an Air of Hospitality
Webster’s
defines hospitality as hospitable treatment, reception or
disposition. The root of the word comes from hospital, the
Latin root meaning “guest room,” however, the hospitality
industry is increasingly under pressure to discriminate
(define this as a little less hospitable) when it comes to
accommodating guests who smoke, have pets, have mores of
another culture, or want to have special events that are open
to all kinds of people with all kinds of “habits.”
It is necessary to
understand the function of the human brain in evaluating the
hospitable attitude of the air in a facility. Most people
evaluate air based on its smell and the olfactory sense is
connected to and controlled by the Limbic System.
The Olfactory
part of the Limbic System2
The
deep limbic system directly processes the sense of smell. The
olfactory system is the only one of the five sensory systems
that goes from the sensory organ to directly where it is
processed in the brain. The messages from all the other senses
(sight, hearing, touch and taste) are sent to a "relay
station," the thalamus, before they are sent to their final
destination in different parts of the brain. Because the sense
of smell goes directly to the deep limbic system it is easy to
see why smells can have such a powerful impact on our feeling
states. Current research has demonstrated that females, on
average, have a larger deep limbic system than males and this
may explain their ability to discern many more smells and
odors than can their male counterpart. The deep limbic
system, along with the deep temporal lobes has also been
reported to store highly charged emotional memories, both
positive and negative. Pleasant smells evoke pleasant
feelings and draw people toward you, whereas unpleasant smells
cause people to withdraw.3
So
the question becomes, “How can the owner of a restaurant, bar,
hotel or motel, gaming facility, bowling alley, pool hall,
hotel or motel, private club, or any kind of facility where
you want to welcome everyone, be hospitable (interpret this to
mean “smell good”) to one group without offending another
group?” Particulate phase and gas phase air filtration is an
acceptable alternative for many of these issues.
This
article will examine some of the ways air filtration can clean
the air and can allow people to be hospitable to everyone
while entertaining a wide variety and diverse group.
Cigar/Cigarette Smoking
Possibly,
the single most offensive air contaminant with which the
hospitality industry must deal is cigar and cigarette smoking.
Reuters News Service: Cuba, on Feb. 7,
banned smoking in air-conditioned public buildings, theaters,
schools, sports centers, buses and taxis as part of a health
initiative. Cigar aficionados who see Cuba as the Mecca of
smoking are dumbfounded by the smoking ban in Cuban they say
has let down the cause for smokers' rights worldwide.
Still, the hundreds of cigar lovers and retailers who showed
up at the annual Habanos tobacco industry festival were
grateful for a reprieve that allowed them to light up freely
for the week. Smokers puffed away at opening night in Havana's
Museum of Fine Arts.
"Nobody could believe Cuba would ban smoking. It's like Spain
banning wine," said Jose Luis Flores, a sommelier at a top
restaurant in Toledo, Spain, who attended the event sponsored
by Cuba's famed tobacco industry. "It's a bad idea to prohibit
smoking in Cuba. If you can't smoke here, where can you
smoke?" he said.
"No Smoking" signs have gone up in public offices and hotels
removed ashtrays from lobbies, but it is far from clear how
effective the ban will be in Cuba.4
While on the other hand:
-
a voluntary program
launched 3 months ago aimed at encouraging Paris’s 12,452
bistros and brasseries to declare themselves smoke-free
zones has been adopted by barely 30.5
-
a ban on smoking in all
public buildings in Liverpool (England) looks set to
collapse.6
-
closer to home, an
increasing number of smoking ban violations in New York are
being rejected by the courts.7
-
a smoking ban in
Lincoln, Nebraska has been suspended after a group of bar
owners turned in enough petitions last week to repeal the
ban.8
In
the US, cigar bars and smoking in facilities, especially in
restaurants, posses a huge social and economic dilemma for the
hospitality industry. People who smoke – approximately 25% of
men and 22% of women in the US population (as contrasted
against 62.1% who are current classified as “drinkers”)2
– want to be welcomed in a facility just like any other patron
and yet, they are usually prohibited from enjoying smoking in
many public facilities and many private facilities also.
Can a
hospitality facility owner accommodate both smoking and
non-smoking patrons?
Successful Application #1
Bar/Restaurant
In A
Research Study
In
2001, an article in a newspaper in Boston (and subsequently
reported in the ASHRAE Journal in October of 2002) discussed
environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in 40 restaurants in
southwest Boston. Restaurant types included well-known
national chains along with locally owned stores. While there
was several different variables in the study such as rooms
with physical barriers and rooms without physical barriers
between smoking and non-smoking, exhaust systems versus no
exhaust system, air cleaners and no air cleaning devices,
separate and the same HVAC systems and movement of air from
non-smoking to smoking and vice versa, along with various
combinations of all of the above, the report showed all kinds
of variations in nicotine concentrations with every different
type of configuration. As a result of the study, the authors
felt that the direction of airflow appeared to be the, “key
parameter,” for keeping smoking byproducts from going into the
non-smoking area.
While the authors acknowledged that the “smoke eaters” removed
particles from the air, they deemed them of, “questionable
value” because they did not have gas phase media for the
removal of these components of the smoke.9
Other
Research
Another study involving two 30 m3 well mixed
chambers with smoking participants in one chamber and
non-smoking participants in the other studied ETS deposition
and found that operating an air filter in either the smoking
or non-smoking chamber reduces daily lung dose. When the
filter is placed in the nonsmoking chamber, lung dose for a
male in the nonsmoking chamber is reduced up to 70%. However,
when the air filter is located in the smoking chamber,
particle dose to the lungs is reduced up to 70%...for males in
either chamber.10
Successful Application #2
Casino
NAFA
Associate member, Tri-Dim Filter Corporation has been
successfully installing air cleaners in bars, restaurants and
casinos for several years. The Augustine Casino in Palm
Springs is an example where smokers and non-smokers
comfortably enjoy the gaming atmosphere together. The
Augustine Casino has 22 units installed in their 32,000 square
foot facility. Director of Facilities, Mr. Harold Rapp,
speaks highly of the units as providing an indoor environment
where everyone can enjoy the facility. “We choose these units
for their design that provides ease of installation and
service maintenance along with the beauty of being installed
above the ceiling out of sight,” said Mr. Rapp. The units
clean the air by removal of particulate contaminants with
prefilters and 95% final filters along with activated carbon
filters to remove offensive odors and other gas phase
contaminants.
 Tri-Dim LP 1000
Casinos usually have shared HVAC systems and have been
reluctant to try and segregate smokers from non-smokers
because of being seen as less-than-accommodating to everyone.
Mr.
Rapp commented that he is 100% pleased with the results of the
units and so are the patrons of the casino. “We have a
program of monthly and quarterly maintenance that keeps the
units clean and functional,” said Rapp.
Successful Application #3
Airports
One
of the best examples of the use of particulate and gas phase
filtration is in our nation’s airports. Because of the use of
jet and aviation fuel, baggage cars and other motor vehicles
in and around the facility, most airports incorporate both
particle and gas phase filtration media for their HVAC systems
to capture the unburned hydrocarbons.
Large air intakes on the roof of aviation facilities draw
outdoor air for conditioning. Because carbon forms more
compounds than any other element except hydrogen, it is
necessary to remove these from the air when supplying air to a
space to eliminate the noxious odors from planes and vehicles.
As a
side benefit, airport air also offers an excellent opportunity
to see the value of cleaning air of both particulates and
gases as this creates high quality indoor air for the millions
of people passing through airports each day. Many travelers
have arrived at airports that do not have these types of
systems and have been immersed in a variety of smells both
pleasant and unpleasant.
High
efficiency particulate filters combined with activated carbon
and potassium permanganate provide the best removal
efficiencies for these applications and provide high quality
IAQ for airport air.
Successful Application #4
Medical School/Animal Research Facilities
One
of the more unique applications of gas phase contaminant
removal was reported a few years ago at a NAFA meeting. A
medical school utilized the top 2 floors of their school as an
animal research facility. The rest of the building was
utilized for teaching and as offices for doctors seeing people
from the general public. In addition, the building housed an
auditorium available for use by the general public.
Elevator shafts in the building were under negative pressure
but the movement of the 2 elevator cars produced a piston-like
air movement effect in the building, drawing the animal odor
from the top and spreading them throughout the entire
building. Many fixes were attempted by using ventilation but
the odor, especially the odor from primates, continued to
haunt the building. People refused to work in the building
during certain times of the year because of the odors.
The
fix occurred when self-contained air cleaning units were
installed in the elevator lobbies of the top two floors with a
12” depth activated carbon/potassium permanganate mix. Odors
were eliminated before they could enter the elevator shaft.
With the “disappearance” of the odors, people were sure that
the animals had been moved to another building and complaints
ceased. The building continues to be used as a research
facility and as a place where the general public can
come for medical procedures.
Summary Conclusion
The
hospitality industry has at its disposal, the ability to
provide their clientele with a better indoor environment
through increase levels of air filtration. Air filtration
products and equipment, both particulate phase and gas phase
offer a solution for a variety of indoor air problems facing
the industry. Cigar and cigarette smoke and odor removal is
possible with proper application of products and periodic
maintenance procedures and allows a facility owner/manager to
have both smokers and non-smokers accommodated in the same
area. A side benefit to increased particulate and gas
contaminant filtration is increased quality of the indoor air.
This should be the first concern of all building owners and
is even more critical in industries that must accommodate a
wide array of people and diverse cultures.
References:
1
2002-2005
Brainplace.com, The Amen Clinics Inc., A Medical Corporation
2 Washington
University School of Medicine
3 Ibid, Brain.com
4 Reuters News
Service – Feb., 2005
5 The Guardian,
Feb. 16, 2005
6 Liverpool Echo,
January 24, 2005
7 New York Post,
October 31, 2004
8 Omaha Channel,
July, 2004
9 “ETS in
Restaurants,” Kenneth M Elovitz, P.E., David Gordon, P.E., CIH,
and Daniel J. Cashman, ASHRAE Journal , October 2002.
10 “Effects of
Interchamber Mixing, Ventilation and Filtration on Lung Dose
from ETS, Shelly Miller-Leiden, Akhil Wadhera and Willaim
Nazaroff. Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of California at
Berkley, Proceeding – Indoor Air ’93.
|
