As the quality of indoor air grows worse, occupants of commercial buildings are exposed to high levels of contamination for prolonged periods of time, subjecting them to high risk against respiratory infections and disorders. Those who live in cities can spend up to 90% of their time in doors. When we step into a modern air-conditioned building, we cannot see what is in the air; most of us would assume that the air in that building is clean and hygienic. To conserve energy, people limit the supply of fresh air into an air conditioned space as this would increase the cooling load. The centralised air conditioning system circulates the same air within the building and there is limited fresh air to dilute the air-borne pathogens brought in by occupants of the building. Harmful volatile organic compounds emitted by chemical cleaning agents, Paints, varnish, error source used daily in commercial buildings also contribute to poor in indoor air quality. A combination of all these factors leads to accumulation and cross-contamination of pollutants in different zones within the building, affecting the quality of indoor air and leading to the sick building syndrome, where occupants experience headache, fatigue, drowsiness and eye, nose, throat irritation leading to loss of productivity and absenteeism.
Sick building syndrome is widely reported because it is a real thing. Indoor air can often not only contain whatever pollutants are in the air outside, but with the addition of other contaminants such as smoke, spores, paint chemicals, cleaning and furnishings showrooms, air fresheners, humidity all of which are known to be potentially harmful to human health. When working in an environment with poor air quality our first line of Defence is our nostrils were larger particulate snake get caught. Tiny particles can pass through the nerves and into our brains, the rest are inhaled into our lungs, some of which are absorbed into our arteries. When we breathe in particulate matters, it stays in our bodies and ends up in our vital organs including the brain. In the short time this affects productivity, but long term exposure can result in much more serious health issues.
The average working day in most cities is 8 to 10 hours including lunch breaks and other additional time, a person could be spending more than 600 minutes a day working in a building while breathing potentially unsafe level of polluted air. We use public transport or motorbike to work breathing in outdoor air. We arrive at our office and breathe in indoor air pollution potentially worse than outdoor. We take the same journey back to home breathing in the outdoor air pollution. Then we close ourselves in at home thinking that we are safe but unless the air in our home is properly cleaned, we then spend all evening breathing in polluted air not only that, we add to the indoor pollution with more humidity, cleaning products, cooking with gas or on an open fire etc.
If thermal and humidity conditions for animals are not maintained, animals could suffer from heat stress. Poultry farms are a good example of how thermal comfort can affect productivity. Maintaining the correct temperature can mean the difference between good egg productions and otherwise if it is too hot or too cold many chickens will not lay eggs. The same goes for high levels of humidity. Humans are no different from animals, if they are too hot or too cold, too humid or too dry, productivity suffers.
