Following an increase in occurrences of Sick Building Syndrome, doctors in the United Arab Emirates are cautioning that the atmosphere of workplaces may be harming employees’ health (SBS). Office workers visit clinics every month, complaining of headaches, sore throats, itchy eyes, difficulty in breathing and skin complaints. Poor ventilation, dust, fungal spores, and other airborne particles are only a few unhealthy or stressful conditions that are linked to SBS.
Dr Trilok Chand is a specialist in respiratory medicine at Abu Dhabi’s Burjeel Hospital. Sick Building Syndrome is when a person experiences adverse health effects due to indoor air quality. Poor ventilation and crowding can also cause infections, he says. Indoor air quality is affected by factors like dust, carpet fibers, and fungal spores.
Respiratory symptoms include dyspnea, cough, throat pain, sneezing, insomnia, and headache. Poor air quality can cause problems like bronchitis, respiratory infections, pneumonia, and allergic symptoms, including skin and eye allergies. Some teachers experienced these symptoms due to poor ventilation when the schools reopened.
People living and working in older buildings are more prone to breathing problems due to poor air quality, according to the UAE’s chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Sanjeev Chand. ‘Employers have a shared responsibility to provide clean air in the workspace,’ he says. Air quality in an office can be improved by installing good quality and efficient air purifiers that can trap dust particles, viruses and fumes and improve the air quality. Smoking is a man-made pollution in the workspace that can affect employees working in the same place.
Better ventilation systems required
Sick Building Syndrome is not a new concept and has been existing for a long time in fast growing economies. It has been seen in people in some specific buildings where they develop symptoms including watery itchy eyes, dry cough, runny nose, feeling of malaise or breathlessness.
Symptoms can be so variable that people in the same building may have varying symptoms. Dr Chawla said workers who experience more than one symptom should seek medical advice. ‘In our clinics we receive many patients like this; most of them come with complaints of coughing and nasal problems,’ she said.
In the UAE, people are more susceptible in buildings where there is high indoor temperature (over 23°C in air-conditioned buildings) and low fresh air ventilation. Poor sanitation and maintenance issues such as water leakage and poor sanitation can cause infections like bacteria and fungus.
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