The Indoor Environment . Productivity and Health and $$$

Abstract

There is strong evidence that characteristics of buildings and in-
door environments significantly influence rates of respiratory disease,
allergy and asthma symptoms , sick building symptom s, and worker
performance . Theoretical considerations, and limited empirical data,
suggest that existing technologies and procedures can improve indoor environments in a manner that significantly increases health and produc-
tivity. At present, we can develop only crude estimates of the magnitude
of productivity gains that may be obtained by providing better indoor
environments; however, the projected gains are very large.
For the U.S., we estimate potential annual savings and productiv-
ity gains of $6 billion to $19 billion from reduced respiratory disease;
$1 billion to $4 billion from reduced allergies and asthma, $10 billion
to $20 billion from reduced sick building syndrome symptoms, and
$12 billion to $125 billion from direct improvements in worker perfor-
mance that are unrelated to health.
Sample calculations indicate that the potential financial benefits of
improving indoor environments exceed costs by a factor of 18 to 47.
Poor indoor environments can have several adverse health effects.
These include communicable respiratory disease (e.g., common colds
and influenza), allergy and asthma symptoms, and acute sick building
syndrome (SBS) symptoms such as headaches, and irritation of the eyes,
nose, throat, and skin. For example, in six studies, the number of respi-
ratory illnesses in building occupants varied by a factor of 1.2 to 2.0 as
a function of building characteristics such as rate of ventilation with
outside air, type of ventilation system, and occupant density (see table).
Allergy and asthma symptoms are often a consequence of indoor expo-
sure to allergens that may originate indoors or outdoors .
Several methods can be employed to reduce allergen exposures.
Changeable building factors such as ventilation rates, indoor pollutant
concentrations, and quality of building cleaning can influence the fre-
quency and severity of SBS symptoms. In addition to influencing health,
research suggests that the indoor environment, especially temperature
and lighting, can affect worker performance directly by a fraction of a
percent to a few percent.
We estimated the costs of the building-influenced adverse health
effects from statistical data and published papers . The annual (1993)
health-care costs for acute respiratory infections are about $30 billion.
These respiratory infections result in about $35 billion in annual sick
leave plus restricted activity at work. The health-care costs and produc-
tivity decreases from allergies and asthma are about $13 billion per year.
Productivity losses from SBS symptoms are quite uncertain but were
estimated to be around 2 percent among office workers, costing an esti-
mated $50 billion annually.