- The reading and writing speeds of millions of office
workers are being dramatically impaired by poor air quality.
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- For the first time, researchers have measured how sick
building syndrome - the mystery flu-like illness often blamed on germs
spread by office air conditioning - could be affecting workers' performance.
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- Typing and reading speeds in offices with poor air quality
were reduced by up to 9 per cent, the equivalent loss of 4.5 hours in an
average 48-hour working week. Experts from the Watford-based Research Building
Establishment, the government advisers on indoor air pollution, said the
research suggested sick building syndrome could be costing the economy
billions by lowering productivity.
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- Experts from the International Centre for Indoor Environment
and Energy studied workers in air-conditioned call centres in Denmark,
similar to those in the UK, over an eight-week period. Among factors that
affected the work rate of employees were used filters on air conditioning
systems. Fumes given off by products such as new computers also had a profound
affect, reducing workers' ability to type accurately and quickly. While
sick building syndrome has been linked to headaches and lethargy, it has
taken years for experts to quantify an impact on peoples' ability to work.
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- Dr Paul Harrison, director of the MRC Institute for Environment
and Health, said: 'This research will make a number of bosses think again.'
British business currently pays a £11 billion a year bill for sick
leave, the equivalent of £400 for each of the 28 million workers.
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- Now experts, led by David Wyon, who carried out the work
for the Danish-based International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy,
will attempt to determine what precisely is causing the loss in productivity.Badly
installed air conditioning systems have been considered a culprit along
with fumes from new carpets.
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- Dr Derek Crump, associate director of BRE Environment,
is among those alarmed that Britain has yet to begin labelling products
such as carpets according to their emissions. 'We have done very little
to control emissions, while in Germany and Japan products have been labelled
for years on that criteria,' he said. The government is expected to announce
guidance on potential problems with indoor air pollution later this year.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1293058,00.html
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