To understand the concentration of formaldehyde pollution in indoor air of four types of public places in Shijiazhuang City, and to assess the chronic non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of employees in various types of places.

Using the monitoring data of health hazards in public places, we analyzed the concentration levels of formaldehyde in the indoor air of swimming pools, barber stores, beauty stores, and hotels in Shijiazhuang City in 2021-2022, and evaluated the chronic non-cancer and cancer risks of formaldehyde for employees in the above four types of public places by adopting the classic "four-step" health risk assessment model of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(US EPA).

From 2021 to 2022, a total of 169 swimming pools, barber stores, beauty stores and hotels were randomly selected, with a total sample size of 485 formaldehyde tests, and the overall pass rate was 91.34%. The pass rate of formaldehyde concentration in the indoor air of swimming pools in the above four types of public places was 100%(161/161), 93.10%(27/29) for barber stores, 90.09%(20/22) for beauty stores and 86.08%(235/273) for guesthouses(hotels), with statistically significant differences(χ²=24.931, P<0.001); the mean value of the HQ of the chronic non-carcinogenic effect of formaldehyde for practitioners in swimming pools was less than 1, and that for practitioners in the other three types of public places was greater than 1, and swimming pools, Hairdressers, beauty stores, and hotels, the cancer risk values of formaldehyde for employees were 1.90×10^-5, 8.19×10^-5, 1.13×10^-4, and 5.63×10^-5, respectively, which were higher than the limit value(1×10^-6) set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(US EPA).

Exposure to formaldehyde in the indoor air of swimming pools in Shijiazhuang City doesn’t exceed the threshold for adverse reactions, and the chronic non-carcinogenic risk of formaldehyde for practitioners in this type of venue is low.There was a certain amount of chronic non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk for practitioners in barber stores, beauty stores, and guesthouses, and the risk value of formaldehyde for practitioners in the beauty category of venues is the highest, and it should be analyzed in further studies.