What is poor air quality?
Air quality is used to describe how polluted the air we breathe is. When air quality is poor the air may contain pollutants that can be dangerous to people, especially people with specific health conditions.
Clean air is a basic requirement of a healthy environment for us all to live in, work, and bring up families. Air quality has improved in recent decades but there are some parts of our country where the levels are too high. Air pollution remains the largest environmental risk to UK public health as it is linked to reduced lifespans.
Air quality can be affected by weather conditions, such as light winds or temperature inversions. These weather conditions can prevent the pollution from leaving the area. Air quality is also affected by the ultraviolet light from sunshine, as it reacts with the air to generate ozone.
Local Risk Rating
Very high
What does the Local Resilience Forum do to prepare?
The government set out commitments to tackle all sources of air pollution and improve air quality for all through the Clean Air Strategy (click here to learn more)
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Met Office work in partnership to measure the number of polluting particles in the air. The Met Office supplies an air quality forecast, and DEFRA measures the air quality and its impact on human health.
As a Local Resilience Forum we work with partners to; provide advice in periods of poor air quality, ensure that messages reach the most vulnerable, and enable access to health care professionals including GPs to help manage less severe symptoms, and emergency services and hospitals to assist those with more severe symptoms.
Associated Risks
- Heatwave
- Major Fire
How can you prepare?
Poor air quality has a range of effects on health. However, air pollution in the UK does not rise to levels at which you need to make major changes to your habits to avoid exposure. Those people with specific health conditions are likely to be the most impacted through poor air quality.
It is known that, when levels of air pollutants rise, adults suffering from heart conditions, and adults and children with lung conditions, are at increased risk of becoming ill and needing treatment. Only a minority of those who suffer from these conditions are likely to be affected and it is not possible to predict in advance who will be affected. Some people are aware that air pollution affects their health: adults and children with asthma may notice that they need to increase their use of inhaled reliever medication on days when levels of air pollution are higher than average.
Older adults are more likely to suffer from heart and lung conditions than young people and so it makes good sense for them to be aware of current air pollution conditions.
At very high levels of air pollution, some people may experience a sore or dry throat, sore eyes or, in some cases, a tickly cough even in healthy individuals.
Children do not need to be kept from school or prevented from taking part in games. Children with asthma may notice that they need to increase their use of reliever medications on days when levels of air pollution are higher than average.
Action that can be taken
- When levels of air pollution increase it would be sensible for those who have noticed that they are affected to limit their exposure to air pollutants. This does not mean staying indoors, but reducing levels of exercise outdoors would be reasonable.
- Older people and those with heart and lung conditions might avoid exertion on High air pollution days.
- Adults and children with asthma should check that they are taking their medication as advised by their health practitioner and may notice that they need to increase their use of inhaled reliever medication.
- Adults with heart and circulatory conditions should not modify their treatment schedules on the basis of advice provided by the air quality index: such modification should only be made on a health practitioner’s advice.
- Some athletes, even if they are not asthmatic, may notice that they find their performance less good than expected when levels of a certain air pollutant (ground level ozone) are High, and they may notice that they find deep breathing causes some discomfort in the chest: This might be expected in summer on days when ground level ozone levels are raised. This does not mean that they are in danger, but it would be sensible for them to limit their activities on such days.
