Sick Building Syndrome and Psychosocial Factors - a Literature Review

Abstract Sick building syndrome (SBS) with an unknown etiology has led researchers to focus on the role of psychosocial factors in the work environment as well as on individual characteristics in SBS. Recent research has suggested that psychosocial factors are quite strongly associated with SBS. The associations have been confirmed in buildings that were beforehand considered to be problem cases, and also in buildings whose condition was not known in advance. However, SBS symptoms could not be attributed to psychosocial factors alone. Most of the previous studies have supported the conclusion that SBS most likely is of multifactorial origin related to chemical, physical, biological and psychosocial factors that interact or coincide with one another. Unfortunately, for the time being, it is not possible to characterize adequately the relationship between the various risk factors and the possible mechanisms of SBS. There is an urgent need for more empirical research, especially follow-up studies and interventions, for development of the methodology and for new theory-building in order to better understand the relations between environmental factors, personal factors and the symptoms of SBS. In this literature review, SBS is viewed from an occupational stress perspective.     

Building characteristics, indoor air quality and recurrent wheezing in very young children (BAMSE)

This study was conducted to examine the impact of building characteristics and indoor air quality on recurrent wheezing in infants. We followed a birth cohort (BAMSE) comprising 4089 children, born in predefined areas of Stockholm, during their first 2 years of life. Information on exposures was obtained from parental questionnaires when the children were 2 months and on symptoms and diseases when the children were 1 and 2 years old. Children with recurrent wheezing, and two age-matched controls per case, were identified and enrolled in a nested case-control study. The homes were investigated and ventilation rate, humidity, temperature and NO2 measured. We found that living in an apartment erected after 1939, or in a private home with crawl space/concrete slab foundation were associated with an increased risk of recurrent wheezing, odds ratio (OR) 2.5 (1.3-4.8) and 2.5 (1.1-5.4), respectively. The same was true for living in homes with absolute indoor humidity >5.8 g/kg, OR 1.7 (1.0-2.9) and in homes where windowpane condensation was consistently reported over several years, OR 2.2 (1.1-4.5). However, air change rate and type of ventilation system did not seem to affect the risk. In conclusion, relatively new apartment buildings, single-family homes with crawl space/concrete slab foundation, elevated indoor humidity, and reported wintertime windowpane condensation were associated with recurrent wheezing in infants. Thus, improvements of the building quality may have potential to prevent infant wheezing.     

Relating Sick Building Symptoms to Environmental Conditions and Worker Characteristics

Abstract Recent concern has centered on “sick buildings” in which there has been an unusually high percentage of health complaints by the building's occupants. Typically, these symptoms are thought to be tied to indoor air quality characteristics, such as high levels of respirable particles or volatiles, thermal conditions, etc. In addition, recent studies have drawn connections between “sick building syndrome” (SBS) symptoms and non-environmental variables, i.e., personal and occupational factors. This paper presents a brief review of a study by Hedge et al. (1995) and additional analyses of their data. In a study of 27 air-conditioned office buildings, Hedge et al. measured nine indoor environmental conditions at various locations within each building and concurrently questioned workers on sixteen SBS symptoms and a number of other personal factors. The additional analyses presented in this paper attempt to draw formal statistical connections between SBS symptoms and both personal worker characteristics and indoor air pollutants simultaneously. The analyses were based on symptom severity response variables whic include information not only on the frequency with which an individual experienced a symptom, but also on how much the symptom disrupted the individual's work. Results from sixteen linear mixed effects models indicate that significant predictors are primarily personal and occupational in nature rather than environmental. For a number of the symptoms, additional variability attributable to buildings exists. However, any physical explanation of this variability remains unclear.     

Indoor Air Humidity And Sensation Of Dryness As Risk Indicators Of Sbs

Questionnaire reports on symptoms and sensations from 4943 office workers, measurements of indoor climate from 540 office rooms in 160 buildings, and measurements of TVOC in 85 rooms were used in an analysas of the role of indoor air humidity and the sensation of dryness as risk indicators of SBS (Sick Building Syndrome) symptoms. The sensation of dryness was strongly associated with the prevalence of SBS symptom reports. There were no associations between measured indoor air humidity and the prevalence of SBS symptoms or the sensation of dryness. A number of significant associations were demonstrated between the sensation of dryness and technical, air quality, psychosocial and personal variables. The frequency of reports of perceived “dry air” is an important indicator of the “sickness” of a building; indoor air humidity is not an indicator.     

Association of ventilation system type with SBS symptoms in office workers

This paper provides a synthesis of current knowledge about the associations of ventilation system types in office buildings with sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms and discusses potential explanations for the associations. Most studies completed to date indicate that relative to natural ventilation, air conditioning, with or without humidification, was consistently associated with a statistically significant increase in the prevalence of one or more SBS symptoms, by approximately 30 to 200%. In two of three analyses from a single study (assessments), symptom prevalences were also significantly higher in air-conditioned buildings than in buildings with simple mechanical ventilation and no humidification. The available data also suggest, with less consistency, an increase in risk of symptoms with simple mechanical ventilation relative to natural ventilation. Insufficient information was available for conclusions about the potential increased risk of SBS symptoms with humidification or recirculation of return air. The statistically significant associations of mechanical ventilation and air conditioning with SBS symptoms are much more frequent than expected from chance and also not likely to be a consequence of confounding by several potential personal, job, or building-related confounders. Multiple deficiencies in HVAC system design, construction, operation, or maintenance, including some which cause pollutant emissions from HVAC systems, may contribute to the increases in symptom prevalences but other possible reasons remain unclear.     

侧筒中间大跨度框架的超限高层结构设计——塔里木油田分公司勘探开发综合楼设计实例

该文结合塔里木油田分公司勘探开发综合楼的结构设计实例,对该大楼的基础及上部结构选型进行了分析,针对上部结构的使用功能及受力特点,平面中部采用钢管混凝土柱,两侧为楼电梯间形成的钢筋混凝土筒体,中间大跨度楼板采用了双向密肋板.根据规范要求,该建筑结构除采用振型分解反应谱法进行地震作用计算外,尚应采用弹性时程分析法进行多遇地...     

A Prevalence Study Of The Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) And Facial Skin Symptoms In Office Workers

The prevalence of symptoms compatible with the Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) was measured in a questionnaire study among 4 943 office workers. An assessment of the relation between SBS symptoms and personal, physical and psychosocial exposure factors was made. In contrast to males, the majority of females were lower-grade staff Females reported annoyance from physical climate factors more often, both at work and at home. Males reported a better psychosocial situation than females. Female gender, asthmalrhinitis, paper and VDT work were related to an increased prevalence of SBS symptoms. The prevalence of facial skin symptoms increased markedly with the amount of VDT work. Psychosocial workload intensifid this relation. Inequalities in physical climate and psychosocial conditions associated with different positions held in the offices can be of importance for the increased occurrence of symptoms among females.     

Phase 1 of the California Healthy Building Study: A Summary

Twelve public office buildings were selected for a study of relationships between worker's health symptoms and a number of building, workspace, job, and personal factors. Three buildings were naturally ventilated, three were mechanically ventilated, and six were air conditioned. Information on the prevalences of work-related symptoms, demographics, and job and personal factors were determined via a questionnaire completed by 880 occupants. Several indoor environmental parameters were measured. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate associations between symptom prevalences and features of the buildings, indoor environments, jobs, and personal factors. A substantial fraction of the occupants in these typical office buildings reported frequent work-related symptoms. The occupants of the mechanically ventilated and air conditioned buildings had sipifcantly more symptoms than occupants of the naturally ventilated buildings after adjustment for confounding factors. Increased prevalences of some symptoms were associated with several job and workspace factors including: presence of carpet, increased use of carbonless copy paper and photocopiers, space sharing, and distance from a window     

Associations between indoor CO2 concentrations and sick building syndrome symptoms in U.S. office buildings: an analysis of the 1994-1996 BASE study data

Higher indoor concentrations of air pollutants due, in part, to lower ventilation rates are a potential cause of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms in office workers. The indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration is an approximate surrogate for indoor concentrations of other occupant-generated pollutants and for ventilation rate per occupant. Using multivariate logistic regression (MLR) analyses, we evaluated the relationship between indoor CO2 concentrations and SBS symptoms in occupants from a probability sample of 41 U.S. office buildings. Two CO2 metrics were constructed: average workday indoor minus average outdoor CO2 (dCO2, range 6-418 ppm), and maximum indoor 1-h moving average CO2 minus outdoor CO2 concentrations (dCO2MAX). MLR analyses quantified dCO2/SBS symptom associations, adjusting for personal and environmental factors. A dose-response relationship (p < 0.05) with odds ratios per 100 ppm dCO2 ranging from 1.2 to 1.5 for sore throat, nose/sinus, tight chest, and wheezing was observed. The dCO2MAX/SBS regression results were similar.     

Association of subjective health symptoms with indoor air quality in European office buildings: The OFFICAIR project

The aim of this study was to explore the association between the building-related occupants’ reported health symptoms and the indoor pollutant concentrations in a sample of 148 office rooms, within the framework of the European OFFICAIR research project. A large field campaign was performed in 37 office buildings among eight countries, which included (a) 5-day air sampling of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aldehydes, ozone, and NO₂ (b) collection of information from 1299 participants regarding their personal characteristics and health perception at workplace using online questionnaires. Stepwise and multilevel logistic regressions were applied to investigate associations between health symptoms and pollutant concentrations considering personal characteristics as confounders. Occupants of offices with higher pollutant concentrations were more likely to report health symptoms. Among the studied VOCs, xylenes were associated with general (such as headache and tiredness) and skin symptoms, ethylbenzene with eye irritation and respiratory symptoms, a-pinene with respiratory and heart symptoms, d-limonene with general symptoms, and styrene with skin symptoms. Among aldehydes, formaldehyde was associated with respiratory and general symptoms, acrolein with respiratory symptoms, propionaldehyde with respiratory, general, and heart symptoms, and hexanal with general SBS. Ozone was associated with almost all symptom groups.     

成都航天科技大厦3.5m厚基础底板施工技术

成都航天科技大厦筏板基础东西长80.9m,南北宽56.35m.根据结构特点,底板分为4个区块施工,主楼底板厚3.5m.介绍了3.5m厚大体积混凝土底板钢筋绑扎、后浇带模板支设、混凝土配合比设计等的方案优化和施工技术,以及通过混凝土监测技术保证大体积混凝土施工质量的措施.施工结束至今,所有底板均未出现裂缝,保证了施工质量.     

Mechanical Ventilation in Office Buildings and the Sick Building Syndrome. An Experimental and Epidemiological Study

The effects of mechanical ventilation on the sick building syndrome (SBS) were studied in an office building with 2150 employees, where the mechanical ventilation and indoor air quality were commonly blamed for causing symptoms typical of the SBS (nasal, eye, and mucous membrane symptoms, lethargy, skin symptoms and headache). The mechanical ventilation rates in the building were high (mean 26 l/s/person). To test the hypothesis that mechanical ventilation causes the SBS, a controlled experimental study was carried out by shutting off the ventilation in one part of the building and reducing the ventilation rate by 75% and 60% in two areas while leaving one part unaltered as a control. The experimental reduction of the ventilation rate did not alleviate the symptoms. On the contrary, the reduction of the ventilation rate caused a slight but statistically significant relative increase in symptoms (p < 0.05). In the cross-sectional analysis of the baseline data the SBS symptoms did not associate significantly with the ventilation rate (range 7–70 l/s/person). In the linear regression model, a positive correlation was found between temperatures above 22°C and the occurrence of symptoms (p < 0.05). Subjects exposed to environmental tobacco smoke had more symptoms than those not exposed (p < 0.01). Women reported more symptoms than men (p < 0.001). In addition, any prior history of allergic diseases (p < 0.001) and a negative attitude towards the social atmosphere at work (p < 0.001) were significant determinants of the SBS.     

Development of New Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Exposure Metrics and their Relationship to “Sick Building Syndrome” Symptoms

Abstract Occupants of office buildings are exposed to low concentrations of complex mixtures of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that encompass a number of chemical classes and a broad range of irritancies. “Sick building syndrome” (SBS) is suspected to be related to these exposures. Using data from 22 office areas in 12 California buildings, seven VOC exposure metrics were developed and their ability to predict self-reported SBS irritant symptoms of office workers was tested. The VOC metrics were each evaluated in a multivariate logistic regression analysis model adjusted for other risk factors or confounders. Total VOCs and most of the other metrics were not statistically significant predictors of symptoms in crude or adjusted analyses. Two metrics were developed using principal components (PC) analysis on subsets of the 39 VOCs. The Irritancy/PC metric was the most statistically significant predictor of adjusted irritant symptoms. The irritant potencies of individual compounds, highly correlated nature of indoor VOC mixtures, and probable presence of potent, but unmeasured, VOCs were variously factored into this metric. These results, which for the first time show a link between low level VOC exposures from specific types of indoor sources to SBS symptoms, require confirmation using data sets from other buildings.     

预应力混凝土竹节桩沉桩施工对周边建筑物的影响分析

预应力混凝土桩基沉桩施工会造起挤土效应,引起周边地表和建筑物发生隆起变形,严重的会造成建筑物破坏,影响正常使用.结合台州S1线温岭16工区预应力混凝土竹节桩复合地基沉桩工程,对现场建筑物沉降监测数据进行分析,结果表明:滨海软黏土地区预应力混凝土竹节桩沉桩施工时,对桩周土体扰动程度较管桩偏大;离沉桩位置越近的建筑物隆起变...     

深圳俊园超高层建筑结构工程施工

深圳俊园工程地下３层，地上４７层，高１６１ｍ。施工中采用了人工挖孔桩加预应力错杆深基坑支护，大体积混凝土三掺技术、桩墙合一、颈性钢筋混凝土结构、梁式了板式转换层等技术，效果良好，经济效益明显。     

南京市既有办公建筑能耗特点分析

根据南京市办公建筑的调查,分析了影响建筑能源消耗的因素。这些因素包括了建筑围护结构、暖通空调系统、照明系统、办公设备、综合服务能耗等。通过对因素的分析,阐述了建筑能源消耗与建筑影响因素之间的关系,最终形成了办公建筑能源消耗与影响因素框架图,为深入研究南京市办公建筑能源消耗水平奠定了基础。     

Comparison of environmental impacts of building structures with in situ cast floors and with precast concrete floors

In this paper, the environmental impacts of two types of slab systems are studied. The first type, a concrete-based one-way spanning slab, is the most common solution in residential buildings in Spain. The second type, a hollow core slab floor, is increasingly becoming more used in buildings, but is not being broadly used in residential buildings as yet. The study is undertaken through the Life Cycle Analysis methodology, applying the EPS 2000 method. The assessment shows that the environmental impact of a building structure with precast concrete floors is 12.2% lower than that with in situ cast floors for the defined functional unit.     

Acoustic rhinometry and lavage biomarkers in relation to some building characteristics in Swedish schools

It has been suggested that certain building factors can be associated with specific exposures, such as dampness, chemical emissions and dust. The aim of the study was to examine the relationships between some selected building factors, on the one hand, and signs of inflammation or obstruction in the upper airways on the other. Acoustic rhinometry and nasal lavage were used in a field study among 234 school personnel in 12 randomly selected schools (participation rate 84%). Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), lysozyme, albumin and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were analyzed in the lavage fluid. Building related factors selected for the study were: roof inclination, fundament, building construction, signs of water damage, floor material, building age, ceiling height, bookcases and plants in the classroom. Control was made for potential confounders. The results indicate a pattern of nasal responses: less patent noses and an inflammatory biomarker response could be related to flat roof and a concrete slab fundament, factors that are known risk factors for water leakage, building dampness and possibly microbial growth. A reduced nasal patency without an inflammatory biomarker response was related to factors associated with plasticizers and dust. Positive effects were observed for plants in the classroom and in older buildings.     

门式轻钢结构建筑物防雷设计浅谈

在轻型钢结构建筑电气设计的基础上，对此类建筑防雷接地设计和施工的相关问题作出简要的论述，得出了具体结论，即厚度达到0．5mm的轻钢结构建筑物的金属屋面板且其下无易燃品时可以作为接闪器，用钢柱作引下线，利用混凝土独立基础钢筋作自然接地体，并通过镀锌扁钢连接成可靠的总等电位接地环网，是安全有效的防雷接地措施。     

浅谈现代房屋建筑地基基础工程的施工技术

建筑是人类赖以生存的居所,随着社会的不断进步,人们对现代房屋建筑的要求及标准越来越高。通常人们认为现代房屋建筑地面部分难度较大,然而现代建筑物的真正难点是在地基的建设。只有牢固的地基才能承载地面的高楼大厦,才能保证建筑的质量安全。笔者结合自身的经验对现代房屋建筑地基基础工程的技术要点进行简单的探讨。