This information tells about what Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is, what the likely causes are, and what can be done to resolve the problems caused by SBS.Good building ventilation creates comfortable and healthy indoor conditions, for warm or cool comfort ventilation, indoor spaces must receive a sufficient quantity of outdoor air that is warmed or cooled to satisfy human thermal comfort needs. Comfort ventilation is assessed by measuring occupant perceptions of indoor air quality, including their assessments of odors, temperature conditions, and the adequacy of ventilation, furthermore, for health ventilation, indoor spaces must receive fresh outdoor air that is free from hazardous chemical contaminants, microbiological contaminants, and airborne particle pollutants, indoor spaces must receive a sufficient quantity of fresh outdoor air that has been filtered and cleaned to create acceptable good indoor air quality conditions.
Sick Building Syndrome is a combination of ailments associated with the work place, offices, or residence (home), almost of the Sick Building Syndromes are related to poor indoor air qualities. Like heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC Systems). Other causes have been attributed to contaminants produced by out-gassing of some type of building materials, like volatile organic compounds (VOC), gasses, vapors, fragrances / odorants, paints and other chemicals, cleaning compounds, very small flying particles (airborne particles), plants, molds, mildews, bacteria, viruses, etc. formaldehyde vapor from particle boards, glues / adhesives, carpets, curtains, clothes is one of the main indoor air pollutants.Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) caused by improper exhaust ventilation, improper of fresh air intake location, lack of adequate air filtration, moist due to warm and wet indoor air, allergenic spores, poor oxygen air quality, minimal content of negative-ion in indoor environment. Buildings with a high prevalence of SBS cases are labeled "sick" buildings. The effects of Sick Building Syndrome covers high level employee sickness, in the worst cases, up to 85% of the employees are suffering symptoms, cause lower productivity, lower job satisfaction and higher employee turnover.
Symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome:
1. Cold or flu / influenza type symptoms which lessen or disappear when people are away from the building.
2. Breathing problems, including sore throats, persistent dry coughs, bronchitis, pneumonia, blocked noses, and sinusitis.
3. Eyes irritations.
4. Skin problems / itchy skin.
5. Muscular and joint problems, especially stiff shoulders and back ache.
6. Neurological problems, such as tiredness, headaches, dizziness, and digestion disorders (IBS / Irritable Bowel Syndrome), nausea, fatigue, lethargy, difficulty in concentrating, sensitivity to odor, especially to malodors.
7. Stress.
These symptoms disappear soon after the occupants go outside the building, but will re-occur if they go back into the building. Sick Building Syndrome can be acute and temporary, typically dissipating within 6 months.
SBS is not a single-related illness where there is a specific cause, but also caused by bacterial infection, or where the building has been built on a contaminated / polluted land. The exact causes of Sick Building Syndrome are not known, It is likely to involve a combination of physical, environmental, and job-related factors.
Open offices with large windows and a high level of synthetic materials, poor ventilation, other indoor air pollutants such as volatile organic chemicals released from carpet adhesive, cleaning fluids, solvents, noise, can also cause Sick Building Syndrome.
How Can I Know if a Health Reaction is Due to a Sick Building ?
There are two components to identifying a sick building. The first is that the reactions or types of reactions are shared by several or many of the people who also
inhabit the building. The second is that the reactions are triggered when in the building and are not triggered when not in the building. Individuals, however, may have
greater sensitivities to some stimuli than do other people. For these individuals, something or things in the building may be triggering a reaction, but the building may
not be "sick." This is often the case when a certain office or part of a building is rehabbed or reconfigured and decorated. That particular area of the building may
create reactions in individuals, but the building itself is not problematic.
Solution :
The nature of Sick Building Syndrome means is not one particular cause, and therefore no simple single solution. Since some individuals may experience symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome, while other workers don’t, they may not associate their illness with their workplace, only by looking at the whole picture, throughout the building, if more than 20% of the total workers suffer from the same illness symptoms, can Sick Building Syndrome be identified. Management must therefore monitor the office environment and sickness records to ensure that any solutions they come up with are working. Surveying the workforce is a good means of obtaining information and raising awareness amongst the staff. If the survey shows that a significant proportion of staff are experiencing the range of symptoms discussed, there is then the evidence to get management to do a full workplace inspection looking at areas which may be causing the problem such as: indoor air quality, temperature, lighting, humidity, ventilation, cleaning, and maintenance. Sick Building Syndrome would not be a problem if the architects and the designers of the new office building took into account the needs of workers when designing buildings. Good air conditioning, including a proper maintenance, redesigning workplaces, replacing old office equipments (photocopier, laser jet printer), replacing florescent lighting, can help overcome Sick Building Syndrome problems.
The NASA research suggest that by including indoor house and office plants, one may reduce substantally the amount of exposure to now common volatile organic compounds / VOC's one experiences daily routine. On going research indicates that lessening prolonged exposure to VOC's and other commonly found indoor air
pollutants (environment tobacco smoke, ozone, etc.) can considerably to your long term quality of life.
