The prevalance of sick building syndrome among employees of a public corporation and its relationship between some risk factors

Introduction:
In 1982, a group of experts within the World Health Organisation described a multitude of symptoms and perceptions as “Sick Building Syndrome”. This study aims to detect the prevalance of “Sick Building Syndrome” among employees of a public corporation, and some of the risk factors influencing this syndrome.

 Methods:
Area of this sectional study contains 350 employees working in a municipality main building. Almost 84.8% of all employees were enrolled.
A questionnaire, containing 58 questions and an evaluation form (containing 37 items) for offices were developed. While the employees, enrolled to the study were filling the questionnaire, a specialist team simultaneously measured “heat, humidity, lighting and the levels of formaldehyde and carbon monoxide”.
Results:
The percentages of employees who had; appropriate working environment, adequate air volume, sufficient illumination level, appropriate room temperature and ideal humidity level, were 69,0%, 96,0%, 44,1%, 92,9% and 1,0% respectively.
The level of formaldehyde was higher than 0.05 ppm in 93.6% of all rooms (278 people) (Average:1,1±0,8 ppm, min:0, max:3,0 ppm). Carbon monoxide, however, was present in 91.2% of study rooms (271 people) (Average:2,9±2,3 ppm, min:0, max:8,4 ppm).
The initial sick building syndrome symptoms were fatigue (69,0%), headache (65,7%) and burning of eyes (55,2%).
Sick building syndrome was detected in 31.9% of all employees enrolled to the study.
The prevalence of sick building syndrome was higher in women than men and this difference was statistically significant (Fischer’s exact p:0.007).
The frequency of sick building syndrome was higher in rooms where carbon monoxide was present (Fisher’s exact p:0,008).
Discussion:
To conclude, obviously, being aware of the effects on health in the building, in which we spend most of the day and taking precautions against these, would improve the quality of labour and the performances of employees. Additionally, revealing the health problems without any reported cause would be effective to prevent unexpected decrease of work force and health expenses