Sick Building Syndrome or Sick Job Syndrome?

Concentrating on the problems witihn buldings themselves, may in fact totally detract from what is really makign people sick - the job they do!

That is one of the conclusions beign drawn from a recent study published this week in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal.

The team "sick building syndrome" is used to describe a cluster of symptoms affecting the eyes, head, upper respiratory tract and skin, which some believe are linked to poor building design. However, the syndrome may have been misnamed as the symptoms reported are more closely indicative to job stress than unhealthy environments.

Researchers asked 4,000 civil servants from 44 buildings in London about their environment and job pressures and about symptoms such as coughs and tiredness.

They found dry air and hot offices increased symptoms slightly but the most important factor was stress.

There is a common view that business loses many millions of pounds through low productivity and sickness absence, caused by the symptoms associated with the syndrome.

The study, which measured factors such as temperature and lighting, found high job demands and low levels of support were linked with high symptom rates, especially for those with little decision-making power. Additionally, individuals were also asked if they had any physical symptoms and about the demands of their job, including levels of support at work.

Some 14% of men and 19% of women reported five or more symptoms associated with the syndrome.

The team found higher levels of symptoms in buildings with temperatures outside the recommended range, poor humidity, airborne bacteria and dust.

But lower levels of symptoms were reported in buildings with poor air circulation, or unacceptable levels of carbon dioxide, noise or volatile organic compounds.

Workers who could control their immediate environment by turning down heating or opening windows also reported fewer symptoms.

The study authors said: "Sick building syndrome may be wrongly named - raised symptoms reporting appears to be due less to poor physical conditions than to a working environment characterised by poor psychosocial conditions.

"Our findings suggest that, in this sample of office based workers, physical attributes of buildings have a small influence on symptoms."

Source: BBC News

Further info: AF Marmot, J Eley, M Stafford and others. Building health: An epidemiological study of 'sick building syndrome' in the Whitehall II study, Occupational and Environmental Medicine , volume 63, pages 283-289, 2006.

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