Assessment of Indoor Air Quality Problems in Office-Like Environments: Role of Occupational Health Services

Abstract

There is an increasing concern about indoor air quality (IAQ) and its impact on health, comfort, and work-performance in office-like environments and their workers, which account for most of the labor force. The Scientific Committee on Indoor Air Quality and Health of the ICOH (Int. Comm. Occup. Health) has discussed the assessment and management of IAQ problems and proposed a stepwise approach to be conducted by a multidisciplinary team. It is recommended to integrate the building assessment, inspection by walk-through of the office workplace, questionnaire survey, and environmental measurements, in that order. The survey should cover perceived IAQ, symptoms, and psychosocial working aspects. The outcome can be used for mapping the IAQ and to prioritize the order in which problems should be dealt with. Individual health surveillance in relation to IAQ is proposed only when periodical health surveillance is already performed for other risks (e.g., video display units) or when specific clinical examination of workers is required due to the occurrence of diseases that may be linked to IAQ (e.g., Legionnaire’s disease), recurrent inflammation, infections of eyes, respiratory airway effects, and sensorial disturbances. Environmental and personal risk factors should also be compiled and assessed. Workplace health promotion should include programs for smoking cessation and stress and IAQ management.

Probability of Abnormal Indoor Air Exposure Categories Compared with Occupants’ Symptoms, Health Information, and Psychosocial Work Environment

“…These problems should be examined from a wider perspective, and experience of the users of the premises and the psychosocial environment should be considered [20][21][22][23]. It has been suggested that good practices for solving complex or prolonged IAQ problems are well organised and involve long-term multiprofessional cooperation between experts [23,24].…”

Ozone in urban China: Impact on mortalities and approaches for establishing indoor guideline concentrations

“…When indoors, humans are exposed not only to ozone, but also to products of ozone‐initiated chemistry . Some of these products (eg, hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide, organic peroxides, formaldehyde, dicarbonyls, secondary organic aerosols) potentially contribute to the total mortality associated with long‐term exposure to ozone as evaluated using measured or modeled outdoor ozone concentrations.…”

“…50 When indoors, humans are exposed not only to ozone, but also to products of ozone-initiated chemistry. 20,23,36,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64] Some of these products (eg, hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide, organic peroxides, formaldehyde, dicarbonyls, secondary organic aerosols) potentially contribute to the total mortality associated with long-term exposure to ozone as evaluated using measured or modeled outdoor ozone concentrations. Indeed, some of the same products generated when ozone is inhaled are generated indoors and subsequently inhaled (albeit at much lower "intake ratios").…”

The Combined Effect of Poor Perceived Indoor Environmental Quality and Psychosocial Stressors on Long-Term Sickness Absence in the Workplace: A Follow-Up Study

“…The practical implication of this study is that supervisors, occupational health practitioners and other authorities should be aware of the importance of fair and supportive treatment when they are resolving suspected or observed IE problems in the workplace. Besides the careful investigation and proper remediation of such problems [43], it is important to minimize the related negative psychosocial consequences. In addition, special attention should be given to open, respectful, and regular organizational communication [44].…”