Sick Building Syndrome
SICK
BUILDING
SYNDROME
What Is Sick Building Syndrome?
Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a situation in which occupants of a building
experience acute health effects that seem to be linked to time spent in a building,
but no specific illness or cause can be identified. The complaints may be
localized in a particular room or zone, or may be widespread throughout the building.
Frequently, problems result when a building is operated or maintained in a
manner that is inconsistent with its original design or prescribed operating procedures.
Sometimes indoor air problems are a result of poor building design or occupant activities.
What Are the Symptoms of SBS?
Building occupants complain of symptoms associated with acute discomfort.
These symptoms include headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough;
dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; difficulty in concentrating; fatigue;
and sensitivity to odors. With SBS, no clinically defined disease or specific
chemical or biological contaminant can be determined as the cause of the symptoms.
Most of the complainants feel relief soon after leaving the building.
SBS reduces worker productivity and may also increase absenteeism.
What Causes SBS?
While specific causes of SBS remain unknown, the following have been cited as
contributing factors to sick building syndrome.
These elements may act in combination or may supplement other complaints
such as inadequate temperature, humidity, or lighting.
Chemical contaminants from outdoor sources: Outdoor air that enters a building can also be a source of indoor pollution. Pollutants from motor vehicle exhausts, plumbing vents, and building exhausts (bathrooms and kitchens) can enter the building through poorly located air intake vents, windows, and other openings. Combustion byproducts can also enter a building from a nearby garage.
Chemical contaminants from indoor sources: Most indoor air pollution comes from sources inside the building. For example, adhesives, upholstery, carpeting, copy machines, manufactured wood products, cleaning agents and pesticides may emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including formaldehyde. Research shows that some VOCs can cause chronic and acute health effects at high concentrations, and some are known carcinogens. Low to moderate levels of multiple VOCs may also produce acute reactions in some individuals. Environmental tobacco smoke and combustion products from stoves, fireplaces, and un-vented space heaters all can put chemical contaminants into the air.
Biological contaminants: Biological contaminants include pollen, bacteria, viruses, and molds. These contaminants can breed in stagnant water that has accumulated in humidifiers, drain pans, and ducts, or where water has collected on ceiling tiles, insulation, or carpet. Biological contaminants can cause fever, chills, cough, chest tightness, muscle aches, and allergic reactions. One indoor air bacterium, Legionella, has caused both Pontiac Fever and Legionnaire's Disease.
Inadequate ventilation: In the 1970s the oil embargo led building designers to make buildings more airtight, with less outdoor air ventilation, in order to improve energy efficiency. These reduced ventilation rates have been found to be, in many cases, inadequate to maintain the health and comfort of building occupants.
What Are the Solutions to Sick Building Syndrome?
Solutions to SBS problems usually include combinations of the following measures:
Increasing the ventilation rates and air distribution is often a cost-effective means of reducing indoor pollutant levels. At a minimum, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems should be designed to meet ventilation standards in local building codes. Make sure that the system is operated and maintained to ensure that the design ventilation rates are attained. If possible, the HVAC system should be operated to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 62-1989. If there are strong pollutant sources, air may need to be vented directly to the outside. This method is especially recommended to remove pollutants that accumulate in specific areas such as restrooms, copy rooms, and printing facilities.
Removal or modification of the pollutant source is the most effective approach to solving a known source of an indoor air quality problem when this solution is practicable. Ways to do this include routine maintenance of HVAC systems; replacing water-stained ceiling tiles and carpets; banning smoking or providing a separately ventilated room; venting contaminant source emissions to the outdoors; using and storing paints, solvents, pesticides, and adhesives in closed containers in well-ventilated areas; using those pollutant sources in periods of low or no occupancy; and allowing time for building materials in new or remodeled areas to off-gas pollutants before occupancy.
Air cleaning has some limitations, but it can be a useful addition to source control and ventilation. Air filters are only effective at removing some, not all, of the pollution.
Education and communication are important parts of any air quality management program. When everyone associated with the building, from occupants to maintenance, fully understands the issues and communicates with each other they can work more effectively together to prevent and solve problems.
The above from Environmental Health Center , A Division of the National Safety Council.
Does Your Job Make You Sick?
Indoor air-quality problems can cause chronic illness or even death.
Fall means cooler weather, warmer clothing, and children
heading back to school after three months of the idle bliss known as summer.
While most employees endure the summer months with only a week or two of vacation,
many try to steal an occasional lunch break outside ,basking in the warmth
of the noontime sun and balmy, sometimes oppressive, summer air.
Air conditioners are churning and fans are also sometimes
used to lower the indoor temperature by circulating air
from the outside. However, as the weather turns cooler
through the autumn, air conditioners will be shut down,
windows will be closed, and the country's workforce will
be spending more time indoors. Consequently, if the
workplace building has poor indoor air quality, people might begin
to complain about congestion, sore throats, headaches, nausea,
or dizziness. These symptoms are associated with sick building
syndrome (SBS), a controversial illness that ranges in severity
from minor annoyances to chronic debilitating
disorders that can force a person to vacate a
job and can severely impact one's quality of life.
According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA),
concern over indoor air quality increased in the 1970s when energy
conservation measures in office buildings minimized the infiltration of outside air,
contributing to the buildup of indoor air contaminants.
The Environmental Health Center (EHC), a division of the National Safety
Council, contends that the oil embargo forced engineers to design more
airtight buildings in order to improve energy efficiency, but this
reduced ventilation has since been determined
"inadequate to maintain the health and comfort of building occupants."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines SBS as a
"situation where building occupants experience acute health and comfort
effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no
specific illness or cause can be identified" (1). When an illness is
diagnosed and the symptoms are attributed directly to airborne building
contaminants, the U.S. EPA uses the term "building-related illness" (BRI).
Indicators of SBS include symptoms associated with acute discomfort,
such as headaches; eye, nose or throat irritation; dry cough;
dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; inability to concentrate;
and fatigue. Even though the direct cause of the symptoms is unknown,
most sufferers report experiencing relief when they leave the building.
Although BRI has similar symptoms—cough, chest tightness,
fever and chills, and muscle aches—these symptoms can
be clinically defined and their causes clearly identified.
Also, in cases of BRI, patients often complain of a delayed
recovery time after leaving the building.
The guilty party behind SBS is a brew of undetected dangers,
all ultimately poisoning indoor air. Some common air pollutants
include carbon monoxide and other contaminants entering
the building through air-intake vents that are connected to
exhaust-filled loading docks and parking garages.
Similarly, the stack effect, which occurs when cigarette smoke gets sucked
back into a building through revolving doors, is a hazard to building occupants.
Other potential SBS culprits are building materials—including
those in office furniture and equipment—and pesticides that emit
volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These organic chemicals have
been implicated as a cause of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), a
controversial disease that can make people allergic to almost anything
containing a synthetic chemical.
Historically, complaints associated with SBS were regarded as superfluous
whining from lazy employees. But the 1976 outbreak of a mysterious lung
ailment during an American Legion Convention held at the Bellevue-Stratford
Hotel in Philadelphia forced the public to question the
health effects of indoor air contaminants.
The outbreak, which came to be known as Legionnaires' disease,
was due to the presence of a contaminating bacterium, Legionella pneumophila,
in water used to cool the hotel's air-conditioning system. Thirty-four people
died from the infection and 221 were infected. This incident and others that
have ended up in the legal arena began forcing employers to look at the
construction and environmental management of office buildings (2).
Many employee complaints of physical ailments are legally dismissed because
the work spaces meet the current OSHA standards.
However, these standards were originally designed to protect workers in industrial
environments against individual contaminants such as benzene and formaldehyde.
OSHA has not outlined regulations specific to a white-collar work environment,
which often contains a chemical soup of indoor air pollutants.
According to the EPA, indoor pollutant levels are on average 2–5 times more
concentrated than outdoor levels, which is why the agency has determined
that indoor air quality is currently one of the top five environmental health risks.
When the current indoor air standards are violated, death and subsequent lawsuits can result.
Celeste Morrell's case is an illustration of blatant standard violations.
A caseworker in New York State's Onondaga County Social Services Department,
Morrell began complaining of nausea from a disturbing chemical odor when
her department received a shipment of new wooden desks in 1988.
Investigators discovered that the desks were constructed of particleboard
assembled with formaldehyde-based glue. The amount of formaldehyde in the
air was up to 5 times the OSHA standard for short-term exposure.
Morrell was diagnosed with formaldehyde poisoning and ordered not
to work within 15 feet of the desks. Unfortunately, she soon developed multiple
myeloma, a form of cancer that her physician linked to her toxic office environment.
Morrell filed a lawsuit against her employer and her case went
to nonjury trial, where a judge is still deliberating it.
In September 1999, six months after filing the lawsuit against
Onondaga County, Morrell died at the age of 51.
Increasingly, local and state governments are recognizing the damaging
effects of SBS and MCS and are forcing employers to accommodate sufferers,
in addition to making employers responsible for providing social benefits
in the form of compensation and medical assistance. MCS is covered on a
case-by-case basis under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and many states,
such as New Mexico and Maryland, recognize MCS as a legitimate claim for
worker's compensation.
Experts are telling employers that the best insurance against lawsuits and sick
workers is to take preventive measures to ensure a safe workplace. New York's
Conde Nast Tower, for example, developed by the Durst Organization,
provides an excellent example of environmental engineering.
The building features solar panels, air intakes on every floor, and filters
that eliminate 85% of incoming pollutants. Many office suppliers, as well, are
starting to use safer materials—an important effort because of the dangerous
elements found in many components and solvents used in office paints and carpeting.
According to the EHC, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC)
systems should meet specifications outlined by the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (Standard 62-1999,
Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality) (3).
The EHC also emphasizes that removing or modifying the pollution source is the
most effective approach to improving indoor air quality, although this is
not always practicable. Regularly maintaining HVAC systems; storing paints,
solvents, pesticides, and adhesives in closed containers in well-ventilated areas;
and redirecting emissions from contaminant sources as appropriate are all measures
that should be routine practices to safeguard against harmful indoor air pollutants.
Investing in a safe work environment might initially seem like an unnecessary
cost burden to many employers. However, studies show that such reforms pay
off in the long run and result in higher worker productivity and a decrease in
employee sick leave, not to mention workers who can rest assured that their
employers are concerned about their health and quality of life.
"When everyone associated with the building, from occupants to maintenance, fully
understands the issues and communicates with each other, they can work
more effectively together to prevent and solve problems," argues an EHC official.
