P.1.30\u2005Assessment of sick building syndrome among employees in the commercial centers in Niš, serbia

Abstract

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a diseases associated with indoor air quality accompanied with various nonspecific symptoms that occur in the occupants of a building. This syndrome has been the subject of serious scientific investigation in the past years, but there are not enough studies in transition countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the symptoms of the syndrome among employees in the commercial centers in Niš, Serbia. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted amongst employees of two commercial centers in the city of Niš, Serbia. In this study the MM-040EA questionnaire was used with two additional questions and 1152 employed were interviewed during the period of three years. Data extracted from the questionnaires were analyzed using the chi-square test and binary logistic regression. Results The prevalence of SBS was high. The most common symptoms reported by employees included high room temperature (74.9%), stuffy air (73.5%), and dry air (75.7%), while rare complaints were towards static electricity (47.3%) and low room temperature (45.2%). Binary logistic regression showed that too low room temperature (p=0.002), dry air (p=0.015), static electricity (p=0.007) and noise (p=0. 024) were the most important factors for the high symptoms score. A relatively small number of sick absence (13.4%) was found among subjects working in the investigated commercial centers. Conclusion The high prevalence of SBS symptoms in the environment of commercial centers was almost associated with factors of unpleasant microclimate. So improvement of environmental conditions such as increasing the efficiency of the ventilation system, increasing fresh air flow in the sector and noise prevention , as well as enhancing the quality of working life will motivate the employees and increase productivity in the workplace. The occupational health care workers play an important role in educating of workers and their employers.