What should you do when an ozone peak occurs or is impending?
- Keep yourself informed, via the radio, press or by consulting the CELINE website (WEB).
- Avoid physical exertion (this increases the respiratory rate, the volume of air inhaled and thus exposure to the ozone present in the air), especially between noon and 8 p.m. For health problems caused by an ozone peak, prevention is limited to avoiding any exertion and staying indoors (ozone concentrations are always up to 50% lower indoors).
- Follow prevention advice to limit health risks. People most at risk, i.e. children, the elderly and cardiorespiratory patients should remain indoors as much as possible, ventilating rooms as much as possible during the morning and evening, i.e. outside the times when ozone concentrations are high.
There are practical things that each of us can do outside emergency periods to help reduce precursor emissions, e.g.:
- limit car journeys and avoid "sporty" driving, (i.e. avoid accelerating and revving the engine hard);
- when you buy a car, choose a model with low petrol consumption and emissions; See Cars (HTML)
- use public transport and make short journeys on foot or by bike;
- choose an energy-saving, high-efficiency heating system and invest in insulation; See Heating installations (HTML)
- choose low-solvent paints and varnishes (stated on the packaging);
- restrict use of certain DIY products such as glues and thinners based on organic solvents to the absolute minimum and follow the instructions for use carefully;
- choose environmentally friendly cleaning products and detergents. (www.ecolabel.be)