office building

Describes a study of 4373 office employees in 42 different office buildings a 47 ventilation conditions, aimed at highlighting symptoms of sick building syndrome. More symptoms were reported by women and by clerical/secretarial workers. Overall, buildings with ventilation from local or central induction/fan coil units had more symptoms per worker. States that there was however a wide variation between the building sickness indices of buildings within each ventilation category which was only partially explained by differences in jobs and gender.

Compares self reported health problems of employees in air conditioned open plan, non air conditioned open plan and conventional offices. The results showed overall that there is a significantly higher incidence of reported headaches among staff working in open plan offices compared with those in conventional offices. Problems of eye irritation and URT complaints are found to be most common among staff in open plan offices, but only when they are air conditioned and have poor daylight penetration. Women are the chief complainants. The problems are not strongly age dependent.

Describes a case study of the NIOSH investigation of the 101 Marietta Tower in Atlanta, USA, a high rise office building suffering from sick building syndrome. Concludes that the use of conventional industrial hygiene approaches for conducting indoor air quality investigations will in most cases by non-productive. States that first efforts should be directed toward understanding and evaluating the operation of the building's HVAC system to determine that enough outdoor air is provided. Distributing a follow-up questionnaire to the occupants is also important.

The study was undertaken to find out the effect of changing the supply of outdoor air in four office buildings on the sick building syndrome symptoms reported by workers. The ventilation systems in each building were manipulated in random order to deliver to the indoor environment 20 or 50 ft3 of outdoor air per minute per person for one week at a time. Each week the workers, who knew nothing of the scheme, were invited to report symptoms.

Describes an evaluation made of employee health complaints at a credit bank. A self-administered questionnaire determined the symptoms. The authors looked at ventilation effectiveness, contaminant concentrations and microclimate in relation to employee discomfort and health problems. Relatively high levels of carbon dioxide and bioaerosols were found, although temperature and humidity were normal. The authors suggest that an ineffective rate of room air exchange may be a significant factor.

Many occupants of a Swedish office building reported symptoms typical of sick building syndrome (SBS). Tests showed that the supply airflows were inadequate, but there was poor air movement in the rooms. Much of the supply air never reached the occupants but went direct to the exhaust system. Reducing the temperature of the supply air improved its dispersion. Instead of rising, the air sank towards the floor and then circulated through the entire room.

This study investigates the viability and cost effectiveness of natural ventilation in Istanbul. A typical high-rise office building was used for the investigation together with detailed local weather data including average temperature, wind speed and wind directions for each month of an average year. Data and methods provided by ASHRAE is used to calculate the air pressure at a particular window taking into account wind speed and direction, outside temperature, height and the building's location. The study uses a simple computer program to do this.

The effectiveness of personalized ventilation based on air movement around a room's occupant largely depends on the supply air terminal device or ATD. Five different ATDs were tried and compared. A normal office workplace with a desk and mounted ATDs was simulated in a climate chamber. An office worker was simulated by a breathing thermal manikin. Tests were performed at various air temperatures of 26C and 20C and personalized air temperatures of 20, 23 and 26C provided by the ATD. The flow of personalized air was increased from less than 5 L/s up to 23 L/s.

Describes a study carried out to analyse the findings of VOC levels found in a tropical office building under different conditions of ventilation operation. Twelve target VOCs and TVOC were measured under two scenarios - normal occupancy and with the ventilation system shut down. Suggests evaluating the area-specific emission rates figures (SER) as the better method of determining source indicators.

Describes studies undertaken at an office development. The first study aimed to outline a calculation method to estimate the allowance to be made for heat gains from the building fabric, especially the slab to the supply air in the design of an underfloor air conditioning system. Quantifications had not previously been made of the allowances necessary in the initial calculations as a result of the heat gains. Also gives an overview of the principle of integrating overnight ventilation using fresh air with underfloor air conditioning for so-called 'free' cooling.