Sick building syndrome

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a combination of illnesses (a syndrome) associated with a human's place of work (office building) or dwelling. A 1984 World Health Organization report into suggested up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings around the world may be linked to symptoms of SBS. Most of the sick building syndrome is related to poor indoor air quality.^[1]

SBS can be caused by flaws in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other causes have been contaminants produced by outgassing of some types of building materials, volatile organic compounds (VOC), molds (see mold health issues), improper exhaust ventilation of ozone (byproduct of some office machinery), using light industrial chemicals in the building, or lack of adequate fresh-air intake/air filtration (see Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value).

People try to fix SBS symptoms by increasing the overall turn-over rate of fresh air exchange between the building's air and the outside air. But the new green building design goals should be able to avoid most of the SBS sources in the first place. Cleaners should lower their use of dangerous VOC cleaning compounds, and get rid of conditions that cause allergenic, potentially-deadly mold growth.^[2]

1. ↑ "Sick Building Syndrome". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
2. ↑ "Mold and Mildew PDF file" (PDF). National Institute of Environmental Health Science. Retrieved 2009-02-19.