![]() SBS is also used interchangeably with " building-related symptoms", which orients the name of the condition around patients' symptoms rather than a "sick" building. Certain symptoms tend to increase in severity with the time people spend in the building often improving over time or even disappearing when people are away from the building. SBS has also been used to describe staff concerns in post-war buildings with misplanned building aerodynamics, defects in the construction materials or assembly process and-or inadequate maintenance. The outbreaks may or may not be a direct result of inadequate cleaning or inappropriate cleaning methods. The World Health Organization created a 484-page tome on indoor air quality back in 1984 when SBS was attributed only to non-organic causes, and suggested that the book might form a basis for legislation or litigation. In fact the 1989 Oxford English Dictionary defines SBS in that way. The main identifying observation is an increased incidence of complaints of symptoms such as headache, eye, nose, and throat irritation, fatigue, dizziness, and nausea. Sick building syndrome ( SBS) is a condition in which people develop symptoms of illness or become infected with chronic disease from the building in which they work or reside. However, many questions remain unanswered and must be addressed by experts in the fields of indoor space and occupational psychology.A cloud of construction dust released during building rehabilitation, Treasure Garden, Tai Po, Hong Kong. The studies have demonstrated that individual factors and sensitivities of those concerned, their job, and the user-friendliness of the workplace were often far more indicative of Sick Building Syndrome that any influence exerted by the office building itself. Pollution of indoor air, for example with volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in German ( VOC and SVOC), infestation with microorganisms and other factors were widely varying on the whole and only seldom played a part in sufferers’ afflictions. It is most certainly due in part to some individuals’ general discomfort about “air conditioning” and a preference for “traditional” airing by opening windows. Yet, most of the SBS cases registered stemmed from rooms with air conditioning, and there is no real explanation for this. Offices with air conditioning systems were not more contaminated with pollutants than those without in fact, they were often less so. Results have been published in an extensive report. Questionnaires and exhaustive measurements at the workplace as well as clinical data helped experts to determine the frequency and causes of health complaints. The most well-known of these in Germany is the ProKlimA-Study in which the University of Jena and research partners surveyed some 5,000 subjects employed in offices from 1994-2000. Scientists have carried out both comprehensive national and international studies to investigate the phenomenon of SBS and its causes. Nowadays, SBS and BRI should not be underestimated for the challenge it poses to indoor air hygiene. ![]() ![]() Sick Building Syndrome must therefore be distinguished from Building Related Illness (BRI), as the latter can be proven through existing measurable, negative influences of the building. Feeling ill in a building that “makes you sick” must be stated in inverted commas precisely because it is not quite clear whether anything specific or at all about the building leads to these disorders. The Anglo-Saxon term “Sick Building Syndrome” (SBS) has been adopted by experts to refer to these non-specific afflictions experienced by people who spend time in these buildings. Scientists analysed whether these persons were exposed to elevated concentrations of pollutants at the workplace, but on the whole there was no connection between exposure to pollutants and their afflictions. These symptoms may include watery eyes, inflamed mucous membranes, or itchy skin. The people concerned at first suffer general malaise, that can not clearly be associated with any specific disease.
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