Isn’t it ironic that as air quality outside is stabilising, due to government agency regulation, the air quality inside our offices is probably getting worse? The irony continues. According to Environmental Protection Agency’s (US) 2015 report, newer, more energy efficent buildings are more likely to have poorer air quality than older buildings. It is estimated that a quarter of buildings in the US that are new or have been newly renovated suffer from poor internal air quality, making them ‘Sick Buildings”. Employees falling ill from building-related illnesses cost companies billions annually from lost productivity, resulting in them looking for solutions to this very expensive problem.
The Problem. The Reality
Certainly, in very polluted cities like Beijing and Mumbai, internal air quality by comparison is better. By in large, employees are working in a mild chemical stew due to urbanisation.
Ways pollution enters our buildings
• If fresh-air-intake vents from the a/c are in the basement or loading docks, it carries carbon monoxide from the vehicles exhaust.
• If smokers are smoking next to the intake vents, offices become polluted with second hand smoke.
• Printers and fax machines still omit ozone depleting compounds
• Pesticides and other chemical cleaning sprays will linger for days on office carpets.
• Revolving doors suck in car and cigarette fumes from the outside.
And guess what? You can’t escape because in high-rise and newer buildings, you can’t open the windows. You’re in a sealed building. Trapped with the air you’re in.
Even if your indoor air isn’t polluted, you simply may not be getting enough fresh air. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers recommends that ventilation systems pump in 20 cubic feet of fresh air per minute for every person in office spaces. In many cases, however, building operators pump in only 5 cubic feet. That’s like being in the air of a plane.
A long-distance flight, however only lasts a few hours. While you may spend up to 10 hours a day breathing bad indoor air. The result: headaches, nausea, dizziness, irritability, itchy eyes, and respiratory illnesses.
Building-Related Diseases vs Sick Building Syndrome
Building Related Diseases
Building-related diseases have a traceable cause such as colds that spread through an office or allergies and asthma brought on by dust or mold.
If you suspect that something in your work environment may be to blame, ask your human resources representative to talk to the building manager about having the building inspected. If others in your work area are ill as well, document your symptoms, including when and where they occur. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Finding the root of the problem is to your employer’s benefit, too.
Building-related asthma, for example, can cause permanent damage to your health and lost productivity and increased health costs for your employer. Investigators should check for water damage and humidifiers contaminated with microbes, which may contribute to work-related asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis, according to work-health specialists Mark Cullen and Kathleen Kreiss, who discuss indoor air pollution in the textbook Occupational Health (Lippincott, 2000).
Cullen and Kreiss add that nausea and headaches suggest carbon monoxide may be sneaking into the building through the air-duct system. Mysterious itching may be caused by exposure to fibrous glass from an air-duct lining. And relentless coughing and throat irritation may be the end result of harsh or improperly used carpet cleaners.
Sick building syndrome
You’re sick ... simply unwell. You feel a constellation of symptoms, fatigue, headache, dry, itchy skin, and irritation of mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, and throat. These symptoms tend to disappear once you’re out of the suspect building.
People with sick building syndrome usually don’t have any disease that a doctor can detect, but their suffering is undeniable, says Richard Lockey, MD, director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the University of South Florida and an expert on indoor air quality. In some cases, the symptoms are so severe that a person can no longer work at the building in question.
Sick building syndrome has become more common than all building-related diseases combined. So far, Lockey says, familiarity hasn’t led to understanding. Nobody knows for sure why so many people are getting sick: Is it really the air or is it something else?
Could sick building syndrome be related to the energy crisis of the 1970s, which resulted in highly insulated “tight buildings” and a lowering of ventilation standards to 5 cubic feet of outdoor air per person per minute? Or perhaps small impurities in the air are adding up to something big. As explained in a 1997 article in The Lancet, a British medical journal, tiny amounts of chemicals escaping from paints, carpets, office supplies, photocopiers, and other sources may be combining to make the air hazardous.
Some reports of sick building syndrome have been linked to another great epidemic of our times - job stress. According to Cullen and Kreiss, repetitive tasks, poor work relationships, and feelings of helplessness can all sap workers’ health as well as their enthusiasm. Anybody who spends all day doing tedious work and sparring with bosses and coworkers is bound to feel terrible, fumes or no fumes. Whether the main problem is stress or bad air, employers have to realise their employees are suffering real symptoms. Sick employees are never good for business.
Some Quick Fix Solutions
- Don’t obstruct air vents or grilles.
- Smokers must keep away from the fresh air intake ducts.
- Take care of your office plants -- dusty, dying plants don’t do anything for the air quality in your office, and over-watered plants can develop mold.
- Get rid of garbage promptly to prevent odours and biological contamination.
- Store food properly. Keep perishable food in the refrigerator, and clean the refrigerator out frequently to prevent odours and mold.
- Keep eating areas clean to avoid attracting pests. (Cockroaches have been linked to respiratory problems -- according to the EPA, certain proteins in cockroach droppings and saliva can cause allergic reactions or trigger asthma symptoms.)
- If you or your coworkers are having health problems that you think may be related to your office environment, work with your HR representative and building personnel to find the cause of the problem.
A Long Term Solutions requiring no construction
Source for a natural solution that doesn’t mask the problem but neutralises it. Singapore Scenting Systems™ has developed a solution that’s better than opening the windows in your high-rise office - Let’s face it, there’s no fresh air out there either.
Singapore Scenting Systems™, detoxes, deodorises and ionises the air that’s already in your office. It literally kills everything that’s not suppose to be there making the air fresh and clean. And with the right choice of essential oils, it can also uplift the space with beneficial aromas. Want to find out more? Visit www.thelittleessentials.com or email dianne@thelittleessentials.com.
References
Environmental Protection Agency. Air Trends. November 2008. http://www.epa.gov/airtrends
Environmental Protection Agency. Indoor Air Pollution: An Introduction for Health Professionals. August 2006. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/hpguide.html
Air Quality Continues to Improve: new report and data. Environmental Protection Agency. Sept. 15, 2003. http://www.epa.gov/newsroom/headline_091503.htm
Building Air Quality: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility Managers, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/iaq.pdf
Routine Maintenance, Cleaning Key to Eliminating Deadly Bacteria, Occupational Hazards, May 1, 2001, Vol. 63, No. 5, Pg. 31
An Office Building Occupant’s Guide to Indoor Air Quality. Environmental Protection Agency.
Indoor Environmental Quality, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, June 1997, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ieqfs.html
Last Updated: Aug 11, 2015
