• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Symposium Speaker: Indoor-Air Quality Often Ignored

Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 03:01 CST

By Duffett, Claire

SYRACUSE - Improving indoor-office ventilation can help businesses save money, an indoor-air-quality expert recently told attendees at a conference in Syracuse.

Businesses that implement the up-to-date ventilation systems recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report 35 percent fewer instances of employees taking short-term sick leave, said Jan Sundell, professor at the Technical University of Denmark.

"That's important if you're counting money," Sundell told the crowd of about 70 during the first lecture on the first day of the 2005 Syracuse Symposium on Environmental and Energy Systems. It was held Oct. 24-25 at the University Sheraton Hotel.

Although most Americans spend the majority of their lives inside their homes and offices, humans are built for the outdoors, Sundell said.

"Our bodies are still made for the climate, weather, and savannah of Southern Sudan - we're not made to be in Syracuse," he said. "The only way we can survive in Syracuse is because of clothing, buildings, and heat."

Today, humans spend almost all of their time indoors, which is not only unnatural, but unhealthy as well, Sundell contended. Human lungs are made to breathe outdoor air. So it is no wonder that airborne illnesses spread rapidly from employee to employee in an office environment, he added.

Sundell cited John Griscom, famed 19th-century, New York surgeon, who in 1850 said, "deficient ventilation ... (is) more fatal than all other causes put together."

In developing countries, diseases caused by indoor-air pollution are the third biggest killer after malnutrition and poor water quality, causing 2 million deaths per year, Sundell said.

While most people no longer live in the cramped tenement houses from which Griscom derived his conclusions, the compact office spaces in which people often work today are no different, Sundell said.

Yet the emphasis on the external environment continues to trump the importance of indoor-air quality in everyday conversation, Sundell contended. The word "environment" is synonymous with the outdoors, while the human environment is almost exclusively indoors.

"Environment[al] issues remain about the outdoors, talking about nature, energy, and sustainable buildings," Sundell said. "That's where we stand today, with so few new centers of excellence like the one we have here."

Today, indoor-air quality scientists are still grappling to find the elusive causes of the high instances of disease within a particular building, using less funding and fanfare than their researcher counterparts in outdoor-environment studies.

In the 19th century, doctors referred to the "unexplainable atmospheric poisons" that caused disease as "miasma," Sundell said.

Today, scientists use Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) as a catchall term that refers to a particular facility with a high instance of disease, with no discernable source, Sundell said. SBS symptoms include sore throat, stuffy nose, lethargy, dizziness, nausea, irritability, and forgetfulness.

Through his research, Sundell has identified more than 350 common, volatile, organic compounds found in indoor air.

Sources of office air pollution include tobacco smoke, asbestos from insulating and fire-retardant building supplies, formaldehyde from pressed wood products, other organics from building materials, carpet, office furnishings, cleaning materials, restroom air- fresheners, paints, adhesives, copy machines, biological contaminants from dirty ventilation systems, water-damaged walls, ceilings, pets, and pesticides.

Certain buildings and occupations - like cleaning and maintenance - are particularly dangerous.

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness, but you may not want to be the cleaner," said Joel Schwartz, professor in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard School of Public Health, who addressed the issue of contaminant sources at the symposium during his lecture, "Indoor Exposure to Combustion Products and Human Health."

The unhealthiest cleaning activities are degreasing pans, applying stain removers or bleach to clothing, and cleaning toilet bowls, Schwartz said.

And researchers have made strides in pinning down the illnesses that can be specifically linked to airborne pollutants.

Diseases related to indoor-air quality include asthma, cancer, Legionnaires' disease, airway infections, tuberculosis, SARS, the flu, and the common cold, Sundell said.

The EPA also attributes indoor-air quality issues to hypersensitivity pneumonitis and humidifier fever.

In order to keep one's work force from coming down with a bad case of SBS, the EPA suggests that building managers take preventive action by installing and maintaining proper officeventilation systems.

The EPA also offers several steps employees can undertake themselves to improve the quality of the air they breathe everyday. Workers should refrain from blocking air vents, comply with indoor- smoking laws and policies, water and maintain office plants, dispose of garbage promptly, store food properly, and avoid bringing products into the building that could release harmful odors or contaminants.

Copyright Central New York Business Journal Nov 11, 2005

Source: Business Journal - Central New York, The

More News in this Category