Sick Building Syndrome

Introduction

Sick building syndrome (SBS) occurs when the occupants of a building experience acute health effects that seem to be linked to time spent in a building. There is usually no specific illness or cause 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 maintained in a manner that is inconsistent with its original design or prescribed operating procedures, or when occupant activities create a problem.

In some cases, building occupants complain of sick building syndrome symptoms that can include headache, nausea, fever, dizziness, eye or skin irritation, dry cough or fatigue. These symptoms may lessen or disappear when occupants are outside the building. Poor ventilation, chemical contaminants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from office machines, carpets and furniture, and biological contaminants like mold, dust mites, bacteria and pollen are all cited as frequent causes of sick building syndrome.

Sick building syndrome can be controlled or eliminated by removing the source of the contamination, improving ventilation, and air filtration and purification (Wickman, et al.). You may notice that whenever you're at work your eyes get watery, your nose or throat get irritated, your skin becomes dry or itchy. You start to get a headache. Fatigue sets in. It's hard to concentrate. Colleagues complain of similar symptoms. Yet, an odd thing happens: Soon after you leave the building you feel relief.

All are indicators of "sick building syndrome." That's a scary-sounding, catch-all term, which simply describes situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that seem linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (Fanger, et al.). Complaints may come from workers in one specific room or zone, or they may come from employees throughout a building. One report cited by EPA says up to 30 percent of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may prompt excessive complaints related to lousy indoor air quality.

Discussion & Analyses

"Sick building syndrome probably originated as a result of the oil embargoes that began in the mid-1970s," reports the journal Archives of Environmental Health. Buildings erected after that increasingly were built "tight" - with windows that couldn't open, for instance - to conserve energy (Norbäck, et al.). An unexpected consequence: Fungi became trapped indoors, along with chemicals released from cleaning products, ozone from photocopiers, pesticides sprayed by the exterminator, fumes from new carpets, and secondhand cigarette smoke drifting indoors from the ventilation system.

Often, according to the EPA, problems trace to a building being operated or maintained in a manner that is inconsistent with its original design or operating procedures. Sometimes indoor air problems trace to poor building design or occupant activities. There's some thought that no one really knows why people get sick; maybe it isn't the air, but some other reason, like maybe sitting too long in front of a computer (a.k.a. "visual display unit" or "VDU"). One study found increased sick-building symptoms when ...