Sick building syndrome, anyone familiar with this illness or possible cause of illness?

grahamg

grahamg

Old codger
Location
South of Manchester, UK
Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a condition in which people in a building suffer from symptoms of illness or become infected with chronic disease from the building in which they work or reside. The outbreaks may or may not be a direct result of inadequate cleaning or inappropriate cleaning methods.

The line I've highlighted in yellow above caused me to create this thread, not least because on another thread I've been giving an account of feeling unwell when working last week in one particular building in the south of England, although when I worked there yesterday I did feel okay(?).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796751/

Anyone familiar with this possible illness?
 

With double glazing and sealed offices, the toxins in the air build up and create a very polluted atmosphere. Add to that, the chemicals used in cleaning products and it's not surprising that we have 'sick building syndrome'. In fact, I suspect that most of us who are in lockdown have very polluted air in our homes.
I have air purifiers on all the time as well as salt lamps, which also counter-act the effects of electricity.
 
Older buildings, and apartments, etc., can easily have problems with Mold and Mildew. Many probably still have Asbestos in their walls. There are even areas of the country that have issues with Radon. I don't know about how such things are handled in the UK, but here, most State health departments can send in a crew to assess any suspected environmental concerns.
 
grahamg said:
You can read more about it here, but it may be a bit controversial because it must be difficult to decide when there is a real problem, and when symptoms being reported as psychosomatic? :unsure:.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sick-building-syndrome/
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There seems to be too many variables i had a co-worker that became ill at work sporadically finally narrowed down to floor wax used occasionally .....
people thought she was making it up or something .........
so many wanted air tight homes or buildings to conserve heating or cooling energy .... but as always it seems they did NOT consider the possible fallout.
 
old medic said:
There are many causes for environmental contaminations inside. including actual building materials themselves.
Condensation and contaminations in the HVAC system are one of the biggest factors.
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That is a huge concern, here is a "sick building" occurance I knew of first hand, at CSULB back in the late '70s:
People were getting ill in this one building on campus. Turns out that the structure on top of the roof to disguise the HVAC equipment was the culprit. Made of metal slats, the structure blocked the view of the equipment, but the sea breezes caused those slats to vibrate at a frequency that affects the inner ear, causing many people to feel dizzy or nauseous. It was a real brain teaser, but they finally figured it out.
 
As office manager I was also the de facto facilities coordinator. I had to deal less with "sick building" than with "complaining co-workers". Constant "it's too cold" with the next cubical complaining "it's too warm". "The sun is hurting my eyes", "it's too dark", "something's bothering my nose", "the air conditioning is blowing on me", "I'm not getting enough air movement", ad nauseum.
 
jujube said:
As office manager I was also the de facto facilities coordinator. I had to deal less with "sick building" than with "complaining co-workers". Constant "it's too cold" with the next cubical complaining "it's too warm". "The sun is hurting my eyes", "it's too dark", "something's bothering my nose", "the air conditioning is blowing on me", "I'm not getting enough air movement", ad nauseum.
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At least you must have done them all good by providing them with someone to kick out against, be the problems real or imaginary! :)
 


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