Ensuring effective radon management for curative layout design of Malaysian buildings

There are some residential buildings that have a high indoor Radon concentration because of their layout design or building age which may require finding solutions to avoid its inhalation by the occupants. These unhealthy buildings may require more Radon inspection and then provide solutions for remediation to save human lives in the long term. A few residential buildings of the double-storey bungalow, single-storey semi-detached, double-story terrace, and five-storey apartment were included in this study for Radon monitoring. The monitoring was carried out using two different Airthings detectors that are recently being used in many current studies to measure passively and continuously indoor Radon concentration levels for a defined period of time and to identify rooms of a building with a high level of Radon concentration. The amount of average Radon concentrations and the graphs of Radon accumulation in each room showed some of the affected rooms require finding the most effective proposed solution to avoid Radon inhalation. One of the Radon accumulation graphs for the storeroom shows a high Radon concentration level of 130 Bq/m3 exceeding a healthy level of 100 Bq/m3 compared to other rooms in the same building that show a healthy level. Any early hazard indication of considerable Radon concentration level should not be disregarded as it is known as one of the main causes of lung cancer. It should be given high attention in order to minimize any possibility of Radon contribution to respiratory disease which is being reported by the Ministry of Health in 2022 to be the first-highest cause of death in local government hospitals. There is a possibility of reducing this considerable percentage of mortality through effective Radon management system which require the public to understand it as one of the preventive and practical methods to avoid lung cancer in the long term.