Photo Credit: George J. Donovan AIA & Associates
This column, “LBWA” (Leadership By Wandering Around), is based on the premise that, in order to find out what’s going on in the field, a parks and rec leader has to leave his or her desk and “wander around” the area of operations, talk to people, ask questions and kick around ideas with the individuals in the thick of delivering services to the public. So the author will bring up issues that may be common to many PRB readers and ask the leaders who are the readers to weigh in and share their knowledge and experiences.
So you’ve finished painting that big activity room in the community center—it has that “new paint smell” so all the users will know somebody cares about this facility, but is that smell really a good thing?
Probably not, because the smell is indicative of a chemical reaction that occurs when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted as the paint is drying reacts with the air. VOCs are in paint to keep other components—such as the pigment for color and the binder or resin that makes paint stick to the wall—in a liquid solution long enough for the paint to be applied. The VOCs evaporate rapidly, often called off-gassing, and combine with other molecules in the air to create compounds; some are harmless, some not. Anyone who has had a headache, nausea, eye irritation, trouble breathing, or more serious symptoms in a newly painted room has probably reacted to VOCs.