What Is Sick Building Syndrome?

The EPA says it’s a real thing, so maybe it’s time to learn how ventilation and contaminants can make you sick when you stay indoors.

I’m Cristen Conger and you can consider this my letter of protest regarding these horrible working conditions!

That’s right boss, I’m talking about “Sick Building Syndrome.”

The Environmental Protection Agency says Sick Building Syndrome is real. They define it as (and I quote) “a situation where a building’s occupants experience discomforting health effects, even though no specific cause can be found.”

You know what else they say? That 30 percent of all office buildings in the United States could be sick.

That’s not just offices either. SBS is a problem in schools, libraries and even people's homes.

In the United States, the average person spends 80 to 90 percent of their time indoors. You know what else? Offices with mechanical ventilation and without open windows are at more risk.

“Well what are the symptoms?” you might have asked if you cared about my well being,

Headaches, dizziness, nausea, pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, coughing... and irritation of the throat, nose, skin and eyes.

You know what that does? It reduces work efficiency and increases absenteeism.

Let me stop you before you tell me that Tina in Accounting doesn’t have these symptoms, because inhabitants sharing the same office space are known to experience different signs of the illness.

Many people (like Tina) are either misdiagnosed or don’t even seek help. So you better believe public health officials when they say that “seemingly minor complaints” should be taken seriously.

Are we on the same page now? Good, because researchers still haven’t identified a single cause for SBS. Most say it’s likely a combination of things like chemical and biological contaminants, along with poor air ventilation.

See, during an oil embargo in the 1970s, buildings in the U.S. were made more airtight so the nation could conserve energy (and building owners could cut costs).

Sealing up buildings like this reduced ventilation down to 5 cubic feet per minute per person. But! The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (yes, that’s a thing) has revised their modern ventilation standards to a minimum of 15 cubic feet per minute per person.

Exterior pollutants like exhaust and plumbing fumes - containing things like carbon monoxide, radon, formaldehyde and asbestos - can all enter through poorly located intake vents.

While inside, we’re circulating volatile organic compounds from adhesives, carpeting, cleaning agents, synthetic fragrances and even copy machines.

What to do, what to do? Well, some governments have established guidelines for acceptable levels of gaseous indoor air pollutants. So you could start by increasing ventilation rates, removing pollutant sources and cleaning the air. The EPA also recommends routine maintenance of HVAC systems.

Some houseplants might help too. A study out of the University of Cologne in Germany found that certain plants can absorb air pollutants.

SOURCES:

Stanitski-Martin, D. (2015). Sick building syndrome (SBS). Salem Press Encyclopedia,
Joshi, S. M. (2008). The sick building syndrome. Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 12(2), 61–64.

Marmot, A. F., Eley, J., Stafford, M., Stansfeld, S. A., Warwick, E., & Marmot, M. G. (2006). Building health: an epidemiological study of “sick building syndrome” in the Whitehall II study. Occupational and Environmental Medicine,63(4), 283–289.

[UpDownMichelle]

For anyone else this was bothering: the movie scenes were from "Network" from 1976. There. Saved you a Google.

[BldBlum]

This explains my work to a tea. I get nauseous, headaches, coughing, and dry mucus membranes at work. They did a deep clean of the place and I notice it's gotten a little better but that's only going to be until contaminants re establish themselves.

[kathyraynes]

I'm dealing with it now. The AC blows cold air on you, plus they spray disinfectants constantly. The windows don't open either. I've walked into fogs of disinfectant in the elevator. I've asked them if they can just use wipes, but they don't. At work I have a raw throat and I lose my voice a lot. I start getting better overnight, then I come back to work. I don't know how to deal with it because I can't quit. Oh, I forgot to mention that we have rats, I've seen one, and roaches. So we're dealing with pesticides too.

[dianeibsen]

We need to support one another. We need a community of people living together trying to get well.

[daysleepnightread]

I once worked in a building that did not have proper ventilation and the out-gassing of the toxic fumes from the building materials was slowly making me mentally and physically sick and I did not realize it. I was having terrible mental and emotional distress and spent months in therapy. I took some time off and got better.

When I went back to work, I noticed that I kept finding excuses to go outside. I began to telecommute more often and I finally realized that I was only having these emotional problems when I was in the building. I started reading and found out about toxic building syndrome. It's a real thing. And our building fit the profile perfectly.

Then I heard about an ex-employee from before I was there who had "gone crazy" and stopped coming to work and refused to contact anyone. Apparently one day he was complaining that he was in so much pain he could not even turn around. I had felt that way too! I began to talk to other employees and ex-employees and realized that a number of them complained of the same symptoms, nausea, headaches, emotional fragility, severe bouts of sadness, memory loss, poor decision making, disorientation, constant fatigue, feeling paralyzed in place.

[navneetkaurnk]

I am a living example too. I get it in the winter plus in the summer as well. Welcome to 🇨🇦

[sanditollette]

Ever since we moved into this house I have had extreme dizzy spells & our cat began throwing-up a lot after eating.  The worst spells happen between the stove and sink ( it is electric stove ).  We left the house for about 2 weeks & my strength started to return & our cat stopped throwing-up his food.  Some people in town are seeing eye-floaters, including me at times :'(

[karenharris]

I got Porphyria (liver disease) from working in an unsafe building. I went on disability in 1995 and could never work again. It totally ruined my life!

[Ember-Rodriguez]

The problem with my school is poor air circulation with a high population. So that could be a problem with other offices and schools.

[spongescenes]

Sick building syndrome is actually really interesting and kinda creepy.

[gman]

Our main train station at Southern Cross in Melbourne Victoria is definitely building sick because we have V-Line diesel trains and they leave there diesel engines idling and the fumes are absolutely chronic there's people that actually worked at that train station that actually do get sick because of the diesel fuse and I can definitely feel it as a passenger

[thepunisher]

theres a thing called HVAC that needs to be serviced regularly...

[ant]

IM AS MAD AS HELL AND IM NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!

[neophytecf]

Working in an office building must be terribly sad :(

[maryhemmingsen]

Thank you!!!
My son's school is SICK!

[dh]

Living with this until i can find a new job

[theresapost]

I work at a super Walmart in a lot of us have bronchitis wondering if this is a problem because of the AC unit is filthy we don't think they change the filters enough it blows dirt the windows Duo left up but we're also waste treatment plant that stinks

[karenanderson]

my home ac unit is making me sick. my landlords won't do anything my only recourse is the county

[MiotaLee]

does this explain my constantly leaky nose?

[nixdorfbrazil]

This is way too controversial. Yes, some buildings can have some bad ventilation, or other issues that can cause some people some symptoms like an allergic reaction, but clinicians and medical organizations say there is no convincing clinical evidence that such a medical syndrome exists. The controversy exists because a number of people have a constellation of nonspecific symptoms that have no proven etiology (cause), yet believe they occur from sources inside building(s). Medical organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and many experts say without any defined symptoms and no convincing evidence of a given source or cause, no test to diagnose the syndrome, and no treatment for the syndrome, there is no such medical syndrome.