Indoor Environment at work : Assessment of indoor environment and health among university employees

ISBN-13: 9783639143492 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 120 str.

Jan Vilhelm Bakke

Opis

Indoor environment is vital for human health. Two §university problem buildings were compared with two §control buildings. Health assessment included tear §film, nasal patency, nasal lavage analyses and §markers for allergy and atopy. Psychosocial and §physical environment was assessed with §questionnaires, inspections, air microbiology, §thermal climate and air quality at 56 points and §modelled for all work sites. Impact of gender §differences, allergy and home environment were also §studied. Exposure differences between problem §buildings and controls were small, variations §between rooms were greater. Workers in the problem §buildings had more general and dermal symptoms, but §not more objective signs. Tear film stability §through the work day was impaired by low night air §temperatures and low relative air humidity. Low air §humidity and air velocity were associated with §perceiving dry air and feeling too cold. Low night §indoor air temperature, increased air temperature §difference between day and night and fast changes in §air temperature might impair indoor environment. §This may have implication for choice of energy §saving policies in buildings.

O autorze

PhD, Consultant Occupational Physician, Chief
Medical Officer in the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority,
Associate Professor at Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, Dept. of Energy and Process Engineering, Trondheim,
Norway. Thirty years practice in the fields of occupational and
environmental medicine.