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Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a condition that affects workers in commercial buildings, causing a variety of symptoms and reducing productivity. It is caused by a combination of factors, including chemicals, molds, and pollutants. SBS is more common in large, airtight buildings built after the 1960s. Symptoms include nausea, headaches, and tiredness. Treatment is done on a case-by-case basis and can involve air filtration, improving lighting, and removing contaminants. Up to half of new or recently renovated buildings can cause SBS, with almost all employees in the building affected in the worst cases. SBS is less common in residential buildings due to greater variation in decoration and the option to open windows.
Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) was first identified and recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the early 1980s. It is a condition, which occurs most often in commercial buildings, in which many workers can be affected by a variety of symptoms, reducing worker productivity and greatly increasing absenteeism. The causes of sick building syndrome are difficult to identify, because the condition is normally caused by a number of factors existing in the building. People can be affected by chemical paints, carpets, natural molds, and pollutants such as cockroach droppings, tobacco smoke, specific types of flickering lighting, low humidity, poor building maintenance, and air and heating settings that they do not include sufficient exchange with outside air.
Sick building syndrome is likely to occur more often in large structures built after the 1960s. As builders have tried to make buildings more airtight, they may have inadvertently created the SBS problem because there is little air exchange between indoor and outdoor air. This can exacerbate the sensitivity people may have to exposure to multiple chemicals or biological contaminants.
The symptoms of sick building syndrome are quite varied and usually need to be experienced by a large number of people working in the building for the condition to be identified. Symptoms include:
Nausea
Heachache
Irritable bowel syndrome
Cold or flu symptoms
Burning throat
Aches and pains
Bronchitis
Sinus infections
tiredness
Because there are so many potential causes for sick building syndrome, “healing the building” to treat those affected is done on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes air filtration can make all the difference. Other times, improving lighting, creating fresh air, removing known contaminants, and creating more ergonomic workstations all help.
It can often take some time to find out what is working to reduce sick building syndrome. In large buildings, several companies may need to work together to evaluate SBS employee reports, to see if attendance data is improving, and to figure out exactly what is working to mitigate the problem. In many cases, reducing SBS is challenging, with perhaps several solutions required to reduce the problem.
The WHO SBS statistics are staggering. It is estimated that up to half of new buildings or recently renovated buildings can cause sick building syndrome. In the worst case, almost all employees in the building can be affected, up to 85%. Residential buildings also occasionally cause SBS, but this is less common.
Diseases resulting from apartment buildings tend to be the result of biological contaminants such as mold or mildew and poor overall building maintenance. Some think that SBS is less common in residential buildings as individual apartments are likely to show more variation in decoration. Also, many apartments give you the option to open a window if the air seems stale, even in high-rise apartments. This may not be true in an office environment and the decorations are more uniform. Everyone on the same floor in a building may have the same carpet and similar desks, chairs, and lighting. This uniformity may be the reason SBS occurs more often in commercial buildings.
