Study of Symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome among Office Workers in Petroleum Industry Health Organization

Background­ and Research has consistently shown that air quality; personal factors and work related factors were the most effective parameters for sick building syndrome. Several epidemiological studies have been carried out to show the prevalence of the sick building syndrome among the office workers but less attention has been paid to the relation of the sick building syndrome and the environmental parameters. In this work، the relationship between sick building symptoms and indoor environmental factors of two office buildings were studied. In this cross- sectional study، the sick building symptoms among two office building workers of Petroleum Industry Health Organization were examined. For this purpose، a validated questionnaire was used to determine the prevalence of the sick building syndromes and the relationship between personal and environmental factors. Meantime، indoor environmental factors including noise، light، humidity، air velocity، temperature and CO2 concentration were measured with appropriate calibrated instrumentations. The results revealed that there is a significant relationship between CO2 concentration as an air quality factor and some sick building symptoms including nausea، headache، nasal irritation، shortness of breath and dry throat. A significant relationship (P-Value < 0. 05) was determined between the noise exposure and headache as well as dizziness. The light intensity had a significant impact (P-Value < 0. 05) on dry skin، eye pain and malaise. Sick building symptoms among the women were higher than men. Environmental factors and indoor air quality had major impact on sick building symptoms in office buildings.