Does Your Office Have an IAQ Problem? Investigate for Pollutant
Sources, Adequate Ventilation Emergency Lighting
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Just because
something smells bad, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s harmful.
Carbon monoxide is odorless, and fatal, and there are numerous
substances that don’t smell good, but are harmless. However,
whether they smell or not, many office buildings have
significant air pollution sources.
Some of these buildings may be inadequately ventilated. For
example, mechanical ventilation systems may not be designed or
operated to provide adequate amounts of outdoor air. People
generally have less control over the indoor environment in their
offices than they do in their homes, and as a result, there has
been an increase in the incidence of reported health problems.
The U.S. EPA says a number of wellidentified illnesses, such as
Legionnaires’ disease, asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and
humidifier fever, have been directly traced to specific
building problems. These are called building-related illnesses.
Though treatable, they can pose serious risks.
Sometimes, however, building occupants experience symptoms that
do not fit the pattern of any particular illness and are
difficult to trace to any specific source. This phenomenon has
been labeled sick building syndrome. People may complain of one
or more of the following symptoms: dry or burning mucous
membranes in the nose, eyes and throat; sneezing; stuffy or
runny nose; fatigue or lethargy; headache; dizziness; nausea;
irritability and forgetfulness. Poor lighting, noise, vibration,
thermal discomfort and psychological stress may also cause, or
contribute to, these symptoms.
There is no single manner in which these health problems
appear. In some cases, problems begin as workers enter their
offices and diminish as workers leave; other times, symptoms
continue until the illness is treated. Sometimes there are
outbreaks of illness among many workers in a single building;
in other cases, health symptoms show up only in individual
workers.
What Causes Problems?
Three major reasons for poor indoor air quality in office
buildings are the presence of indoor air pollution sources;
poorly designed, maintained, or operated ventilation systems;
and uses of the building that were unanticipated or poorly
planned for when the building was designed or renovated.
The most important factor influencing indoor air quality is the
presence of pollutant sources. Commonly found office pollutants
and their sources include environmental tobacco smoke; asbestos
from insulating and fire-retardant building supplies;
formaldehyde from pressed wood products; other organics from
building materials, carpet and other office furnishings,
cleaning materials and activities, restroom air fresheners,
paints, adhesives, copying machines and photography and, print
shops; biological contaminants from dirty ventilation systems
or water-damaged walls, ceilings and carpets; and pesticides
from pest management practices. Ventilation Systems
Mechanical ventilation systems in large buildings are designed
and operated not only to heat and cool the air, but also to draw
in and circulate outdoor air. If they are poorly designed,
operated or maintained, however, ventilation systems can
contribute to indoor air problems in several ways.
For example, problems arise when, in an effort to save energy,
ventilation systems are not used to bring in adequate amounts
of outdoor air. Inadequate ventilation also occurs if the air
supply and return vents within each room are blocked or placed
in such a way that outdoor air does not actually reach the
breathing zone of building occupants. Improperly located outdoor
air intake vents can also bring in air contaminated with
automobile and truck exhaust, boiler emissions, fumes from
dumpsters or air vented from restrooms.
Finally, ventilation systems can be a source of indoor pollution
themselves by spreading biological contaminants that have
multiplied in cooling towers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air
conditioners or the inside surfaces of ventilation duct work.
Use of the Building
Indoor air pollutants can be circulated from portions of the
building used for specialized purposes, such as restaurants,
print shops and dry-cleaning stores, into offices in the same
building. Carbon monoxide and other components of automobile
exhaust can be drawn from underground parking garages through
stairwells and elevator shafts into office spaces.
In addition, buildings originally designed for one purpose may
end up being converted to use as office space. If not properly
modified during building renovations, the room partitions and
ventilation system can contribute to indoor air quality
problems by restricting air recirculation or by providing an
inadequate supply of outdoor air.
What to Do?
If you or others at your office are experiencing health or
comfort problems that you suspect may be caused by indoor air
pollution, you can do the following:
• Talk with other workers and supervisors to see if the
problems are being experienced by others and urge that a record
of reported health complaints be kept by management, if one has
not already been established;
• Talk with your own physician and report your problems to the
company physician, nurse, or health and safety officer;
• Call your state or local health department (see the EPA’s
Where You Live pages at www.epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html) or
air pollution control agency to talk over the symptoms and
possible causes; and
• You can encourage building management to follow guidance in
EPA’s IAQ Building Education and Assessment Model (IBEAM).
I-BEAM updates and expands EPA’s existing Building Air Quality
guidance and is designed to be comprehensive state-of-the-art
guidance for managing IAQ in commercial buildings.
This guidance was designed to be used by building professionals
and others interested in indoor air quality in commercial
buildings. I-BEAM contains text, anima-tion/visual, and
interactive/calculation components that can be used to perform a
number of diverse tasks. You can also encourage building
management to follow guidance in EPA and NIOSH’s Building
Air Quality: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility Managers.
To obtain the loose leaf format version of the Building Air
Quality, complete with appendices, an index, and a full set of
useful forms, and the, Building Air Quality Action Plan (The BAQ
Action Plan is available in HTML and PDF formats.), order GPO
Stock # 055-000-00602-4, for $28, contact the: Superintendent
of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), P.O. Box
371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954, or call (202) 512-1800, fax
(202) 512-2250.
Obtain a copy of “An Office Building Occupant’s Guide to Indoor
Air Quality,” EPA-402-K-97-003, October 1997 from IAQ INFO at
1-800-438-4318.
Frequently, indoor air quality problems in large commercial
buildings cannot be effectively identified or remedied without a
comprehensive building investigation. These investigations may
start with written questionnaires and telephone consultations in
which building investigators assess the history of occupant
symptoms and building operation procedures. In some cases,
these inquiries may quickly uncover the problem and on-site
visits are unnecessary.
More often, however, investigators will need to come to the
building to conduct personal interviews with occupants, to look
for possible sources of the problems, and to inspect the design
and operation of the ventilation system and other building
features.
Because taking measurements of pollutants at the very low
levels often found in office buildings is expensive and may not
yield information readily useful in identifying problem
sources, investigators may not take many measurements. The
process of solving indoor air quality problems that result in
health and comfort complaints can be a slow one, involving
several trial solutions before successful remedial actions are
identified.
If a professional company is hired to conduct a building
investigation, select a company on the basis of its experience
in identifying and solving indoor air quality problems in
non-industrial buildings.
Work with others to establish a smoking policy that eliminates
involuntary nonsmoker exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
Call the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) for information on obtaining a health hazard evaluation
of your office (800-35NIOSH), or contact the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration, (202) 219-8151. ❑
Source: U.S. EPA |
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