Sick Building Syndrome

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is an imprecise term used to describe those buildings in which there is a prevalence of a range of symptoms causing discomfort and a sense of being unwell rather than a distinct illness. 

Does your workforce regularly complain about irritating symptoms such as headaches, runny noses and itching? Have your supervisors noticed that people are taking much more sick leave, performing badly, or are unhappy with their surroundings? If so, it could be a case of Sick Building Syndrome. The problem could be with the building, the working environment or the way in which work is organised.

The symptoms generally increase in severity over the working shift and diminish on leaving the building at the end of the working day. There is also a tendency for an increase in severity of symptoms through the working week.

There are a number of common features often found in sick buildings. These include:

1. forced ventilation or air-conditioning;
2. lightweight construction;
3. indoor surfaces covered in fabrics, eg carpets;
4. a homogeneous thermal environment, being relatively warm and energy-efficient; and 
5. air tight rooms, eg where there are no openable windows or other openings to the outside.

The complexity and range of factors which may cause SBS in a given case makes the positive identification of cause and any remedial measures very difficult. The action should be aimed towards providing a suitable workplace environment within the reasonably practicable constraints.

HSG132 How to deal with sick building syndrome (SBS) is a useful HSE guidance for employers, building owners and building managers.

A clean ventilation system is an essential part of a healthy building and it is essential that any ventilation system serving a building where confirmed cases have been diagnosed are sanitised in accordance with best practice, and that any buildings where no cases have been confirmed have their ventilation system cleaned to industry best practice as a preventative measure during this time and on-going. Air sampling under COSHH general guidance is a sensible risk assessment to determine if cleaning ventilation system is required.

The author suspects that COVID-19 will raise the profile of this topic especially when recent (March 2020) newspaper stories have been widely circulated suggesting that research has suggested that “the coronavirus could be spread by air conditioning systems”.