|
This is a second reference found on the EPA website regarding Sick Building Syndrome. The first is their Fact Sheet (see below).
US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
Health Problems Caused By SICK BUILDING SYNDROME
http://www.epa.gov/iedweb00/pubs/hpguide.html#sbs
Key Signs/Symptoms
lethargy or fatigue
headache, dizziness, nausea
irritation of mucous membranes
sensitivity to odors
Diagnostic Leads
Are problems temporally related to time spent in a particular building or part of a building?
Do symptoms resolve when the individual is not in the building?
Do symptoms recur seasonally (heating, cooling)?
Have co-workers, peers noted similar complaints?
Remedial Action
Appropriate persons -- employer, building owner or manager, building investigation specialist, if necessary state and local government agency medical epidemiologists and other public health officials -- should undertake investigation and analysis of the implicated building, particularly the design and operation of HVAC systems, and correct contributing conditions. Persistence on the part of individual(s) and health care consultant(s) may be required to diagnose and remediate the building problems.
Comment
The term "sick building syndrome" (SBS), first employed in the 1970s, describes a situation in which reported symptoms among a population of building occupants can be temporally associated with their presence in that building. Typically, though not always, the structure is an office building.
Generally, a spectrum of specific and nonspecific complaints are involved. Typical complaints, in addition to the signs and symptoms already listed, may also include eye and/or nasopharyngeal irritation, rhinitis or nasal congestion, inability to concentrate, and general malaise-complaints suggestive of a host of common ailments, some ubiquitous and easily communicable. The key factors are commonality of symptoms and absence of symptoms among building occupants when the individuals are not in the building.
Sick building syndrome should be suspected when a substantial proportion of those spending extended time in a building (as in daily employment) report or experience acute on-site discomfort. If is important, however, to distinguish SBS from problems of building related illness. The latter term is reserved for situations in which signs and symptoms of diagnosable illness are identified and can be attributed directly to specific airborne building contaminants. Legionnaires' Disease and hypersensitivity pneumonitis, for example, are building related illnesses.
There has been extensive speculation about the cause or causes of SBS. Poor design, maintenance, and/or operation of the structure's ventilation system may be at fault (55). The ventilation system itself can be a source of irritants. Interior redesign, such as the rearrangement of offices or installation of partitions, may also interfere with efficient functioning of such systems.
Another theory suggests that very low levels of specific pollutants, including some discussed in the preceding pages, may be present and may act synergistically, or at least in combination, to cause health effects. Humidity may also be a factor: while high relative humility may contribute to biological pollutant problems, an unusually low level -- below 20 or 30 percent -- may heighten the effects of mucosal irritants and may even prove irritating itself. Other contributing elements may include poor lighting and adverse ergonomic conditions, temperature extremes, noise, and psychological stresses that may have both individual and interpersonal impact.
The prevalence of the problem is unknown. A 1984 World Health Organization report suggested that as many as 30 percent of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may generate excessive complaints related to indoor air quality (56). In a nationwide, random sampling of U.S. office workers, 24 percent perceived air quality problems in their work environments, and 20 percent believed their work performance was hampered thereby (57).
When SBS is suspected, the individual physician or other health care provider may need to join forces with others (e.g., clinicians consulted by an individual's co-workers, as well as industrial hygienists and public health officials) to adequately investigate the problem and develop appropriate solutions.
55. A professional group, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), has established standards of ventilation for the achievement of acceptable indoor air quality. These criteria do not have the force of law, are typically invoked only for new or renovated construction, and even when met do not assure comfortable and healthy air quality under all conditions and in all circumstances.
56. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and Radiation. Indoor Air Facts No. 4: Sick Building Syndrome, revised, 1991.
57. Kreiss, Kathleen. "The Sick Building Syndrome: Where Is the Epidemiologic Basis? "American Journal of Public Health 1990; 80:1172-73.
|
