Cause of Poor Indoor Environment Quality in Offices and Its Associated Health Risk
On daily basis, regular employees relatively spent 33 percent average of their time in workplace while others who normally work extra time in addition to their normal hours used nearly 46 percent during work days. The typical number of hours that employees used in office for each day is far longer than in any place aside from home.
Offices attributed with poor indoor environment quality certainly puts employee’s health in risk; however it is fairly easy to differentiate if you’re working in a poor environment or you’re fortunate to be working in a healthy and safe environment office. Common problems that are related to poor office environment are unsatisfactory performance, lesser productivity and absenteeism as a result of sickness, and thus, this would apparently reduced company’s efficiency, disrupt its targeted profit and turn around. In addition, indoor environment is intricate and there are various factors attributed to its quality, these characteristics include dampness, ventilation characteristic, ergonomics, and cleanliness. From this list you can rate your office if it has a poor or excellent environment quality.
Firstly, Dampness is a result of moisture presence on the surfaces of walls, floors, ceiling, furniture, and hidden areas. These appear from leak on pipe and fixtures, rainwater penetration, and humidity. Further problem is when wet surfaces are not visible from normal views as some wet areas are hidden behind partitions, underneath equipment and cabinets, and above the ceiling surfaces which makes it difficult for maintenance personnel to catch this problem. Presence of damp surfaces instantaneously requires drying within 24 to 48 hours before molds and bacteria developed. Moisture problems is common in old and poorly maintained offices where some plumbing pipes leaked and inefficient walls are not able to stop external moisture infiltration, however, dampness is not the problem alone but it’s the health hazard that employees would get as a result of moist environment, as it support growth of molds, bacteria, cockroaches, bugs, and source of odors from off-gassing materials.
Secondly, Ventilation is a service system in buildings that supplies fresh air and removes unclean air by natural means or mechanical operation. Ventilation system are basically designed to cater pre-determined number of occupants, however problem exist if there are changes in office layouts and increase on number of occupants, while ventilation systems stays the same without modification, apparently, performance would not be able to cater the current requirements. Insufficient outdoor air supply and poor quality air is common particularly in those office buildings located in areas close to source of air pollution. Furthermore, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and chemical off-gassing materials which exceeds allowable limit would be another cause of health risk for employees, as several office furniture, tiles, carpet, sealant, paints and other finishes contain VOC and harmful chemicals, these can cause irritation to skin and eyes, aggravate asthma, and cause headaches and drowsiness.
Moreover, poor office ergonomics is a common cause of physical injuries and body stress. As this problem is a result of poor design, you can observe office worktables and computer screen heights are neither suitable nor flexible for specific user. As a result, it cause back pain and stress on neck and arms of the employee. Another example is insufficient allotted work space for employee and thus hinders its ability to move comfortably and stretch its body whenever they felt tired. Some outstanding companies are very particular in ergonomics and employee’s comforts, they are not only providing user friendly and comfortable to use equipments and office furniture but also they assigned staff to advice employees on how to work healthy and avoid working habits that causes stress and fatigue.
Finally, cleanliness is basically as important as getting rid of chemical off- gassing materials, for some reason accumulating dust and contaminated particles could mix up with supplied fresh air. This problem is common in busy office zone where you can expect huge visitors and clients come in daily. It is advisable to provide entrance grate systems to capture dust and particulates from entering inside the office and air filters must be frequently cleaned. Contaminated air that circulates around the office could possibly cause cough and asthma, irritate eye and nose, and skin allergies.
Since indoor environment is significant for successful companies, the employee’s well-being and comfort, work productivity and efficiency relies on the quality of the office’s indoor environment. The companies that understood these needs and provide the best working environment for their workers always succeed in meeting their targeted profits and retain their best employees. Moreover, everyday most employees spent most of their time in office and they could be susceptible to any stress, fatigue, and health risk, it is very important to instantly address problems that involve HVAC performance, sanitation, ergonomics, dampness, and employees discomforts. As health problems correlated with these problems would affect the employees and company’s efficiency, these can reduce productivity and performance of employees and would even result on frequent absenteeism and the worse is resignation.
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