English

The relationship between psychosocial characteristics and sick building syndrome(SBS) was explored among 348 employees occupying two buildings engaged in thepublic sector in Pretoria, South Africa. One building was characterized as sick(building B), whilst the other was not a known sick building (building A).

Correlation analysis of subjective responses of tropically acclimatized office workers in a fieldstudy conducted over nine continuous weeks using a 2 2 balanced design with temperatureand fresh air ventilation rates as control variables revealed that several related SBS symptomsare highly correlated. Thermal comfort and acceptability of air quality exhibit a strongcorrelation, whereas perceived indoor environmental variables have poor correlations amongthemselves. Principal component analysis further improved measures to variability bycombining coherent variables into six factors.

In January 2002, a new European project named HOPE (Health Optimization Protocol forEnergy-efficient Buildings) started with 14 participants from nine European countries. Thefinal goal of the project is to provide the means to increase the number of energy-efficientbuildings, i.e. buildings that are at the same time healthy and low energy users. Reducingenergy use by buildings also reduces CO2 emissions from primary energy used for ventilation,heating and humidity control.

After moving into a new office building, employees complained about irritation of eyes, sorethroat and unspecific symptoms. A working group was appointed to investigate indoor airpollution.Air samples and floor dust samples for the analysis of organic compounds were collected inoffice rooms. Within 8 months, several measurement campaigns were conducted to assess thetrends of the concentrations of air pollutants.

A sample of 269 workers, selected randomly from 1600 employees of a sealed 42-storeyoffice building of a major bank in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, responded to the standard RoyalSociety of Health Advisory Group questionnaire about Sick Building Syndrome.Upper airways respiratory symptoms occupied a prominent position, with a prevalence ofaround 40%, whereas the lower airways manifestations frequencies were below 20%.

In order to determine the a etiological factor of Sick House Syndrome (SHS), indoor airquality of 35 houses in Miyagi prefecture of Japan, where occupants are suspected ofsuffering from SHS, had been investigated during the summers in 2000-2002. Theinvestigation included the measurement of indoor chemical substance concentration and aquestionnaire regarding residential environment and subjective symptoms.As a result, the formaldehyde concentrations in 71% of all houses exceeded the guideline ofJapan.

In this study, the houses where residents were suspected of having sick house syndromelocated in Miyagi prefecture of Japan, had been investigated during the summer of 2001. Theinvestigation included the measurements of the aldehydes and volatile organic compounds(VOCs) concentration, air tightness level, airflow volume at inlets/outlets and ventilation rate.This paper shows the results of indoor air quality and ventilation rate in eight houses. Allthese houses, which are air tight except one house, use mechanical ventilation system.

Healthy housing strategies tend to focus on good comfort and on avoiding specific health riskagents. These agents are generated by building features and occupancy and may come fromboth indoor and outdoor environments. This research project focuses on building features andthe impact they have on the indoor environment. The interaction between the building andoccupancy patterns is studied. This paper describes the selection of the smallest set ofindicators that allows a simple but effective evaluation procedure of the health performance ofhousing.

A framework for performance criteria for healthy and energy-efficient buildings was developed within the context of two European funded Projects: PeBBu and HOPE.PeBBu, Performance-Based Building, is a Thematic network under the Competitive and Sustainable Growth programme, which started 1 September 2001 and will run for 4 years.

We gathered exposure data on indoor air pollution and investigated the dose-response slopefactor for indoor air pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds, aldehydes and radon.Population cancer risks (that is the theoretical cancer deaths) were estimated from exposure tothe pollutants. In addition, the damage costs, due to their risks, were estimated usingwillingness to pay and value of a statistical life, which were investigated by a dichotomouscontingent valuation method.