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Building Related Illness (BRI)/ Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)

BayBiotech.NET
Built environments both residential and non residential are subject to number of indoor air quality (IAQ) and Indoor environment (IE) problems that may cause acute symptoms, health risks or discomfort.
A frequent IAQ and IE investigations can determine the occurrence of BRI and provide with healthier work environment. This is of utmost importance for Pharmaceutical/ Life Sciences industry where the product is directly subject to the human usage.
Non residential buildings are more prone to BRI as there is a high volume of occupants coming from diverse geographical areas interact in an environment where the ventilation of the building is not directly under the occupants control.
Health hazard evaluation teams from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducts the investigation upon request and provides with strategies to avoid the recurrence of the problem. Some of the risk factors that may be used to evaluate biological contaminants as potential causes of allergy/asthma/sinusitis are as follows:
1. Mold: active mold infestation on building material, building history of water damage, wet building site, musty odors, viable mold test results of >1000 CFU/m3 and total mold counts >10,000 S/m3.
2. Dust mites: damp interiors, > 2 ug/g mite allergen levels in floor dust samples.
3. Apart from dust mites and mold, bacterias are major contributors to indoor health hazards and some of the diseases caused due to them are Tuberculosis, Pneumonia, Diphtheria, Anthrax, Meningitis, Respiratory infections and wound infections.

Poor IAQ contributed by various identifiable factors may cause decreased work performance and may impose significant economic costs on employers. Thus, it is important to have a regular investigations planned to test the health of the buildings used for performing the work.

In the US, NIOSH has developed a protocol to serve the needs of its health hazard evaluation teams. Such a team consists of an industrial hygienist, an epidemiologist, and a technical person familiar with the operation and maintenance of building mechanical systems.

To find out more on the topic, you may want to follow the readings as under:

1. www.epa.gov
2. USEPA/ NIOSH, EPA/400/1-91/003, DHHS Publication No. 91-1141-1991.
3. Thad Godish, Indoor Environmental Quality, CRC Press LLC, 2001.

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