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Indoor air quality problems can be caused by ventilation system deficiencies, overcrowding, tobacco smoke, microbiological contamination, outside air pollutants, and off gassing from materials in the office and mechanical equipment. Related problems also may include comfort problems due to improper temperature and relative humidity conditions, poor lighting, and noise levels, as well as adverse ergonomic conditions, and job-related stressors.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) also uses the term Indoor Environmental Quality.
Affects individuals who may be exposed to indoor air contaminants. Indoor air quality problems encompasses complaints from one or two employees to events where entire facilities are shut down and evacuated until the situation is investigated and problems corrected.
The Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate indoor air quality, and OSHA only covers specific areas. Although OSHA does not have indoor air quality standards, it does have standards about ventilation and standards on some of the air contaminants that can be involved in indoor air quality problems.
In addition, many states have guidance on indoor air quality. Check your state health department website. These include California, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.
The General Duty Clause of the OSH Act requires employers to provide safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. If a situation involving mold contamination presents a serious hazard, OSHA could use the General Duty Clause to cite employers.
Investigations of indoor air quality often fail to identify any harmful levels of specific toxic substances. Often, employee complaints result from items such as cigarette smoke, odors, low-level contaminants, poor air circulation, thermal gradients, humidity, job pressures, lighting, work-station design, or noise.
Complaints are often of a subjective, nonspecific nature and are associated with periods of occupancy. These symptoms often disappear when the employee leaves the workplace. They include headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, lack of concentration, and eye, nose, and throat irritation.
Immediate effects may show up after a single exposure or repeated exposures. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. These effects are usually short-term and treatable. Sometimes, the treatment is simply eliminating the person’s exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified.
The likelihood of reactions to indoor air pollutants depends on several factors. Age and preexisting medical conditions are two important influences. In other cases, whether a person reacts to a pollutant depends on individual sensitivity, which varies from person to person. Some people can become sensitized to biological pollutants after repeated exposures, and it appears that some people can become sensitized to chemical pollutants as well.
Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects (which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer) can be severely debilitating or fatal. Thus, it is prudent to improve indoor air quality even if symptoms are not noticeable.
There are three basic strategies to improve indoor air quality: