An evaluation of occupant health and indoor environmental quality in university workspaces

Abstract

Indoor environmental quality is an important parameter in determining the occupant’s health status in the office environment. To show the important connection between human health and environmental quality, this study was carried out to investigate the relationship between Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), the prevalence of health symptoms, selected personal factors, and office characteristics among university office workers. Six parameters of IAQ, including air temperature, relative air humidity, formaldehyde, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, were measured by a direct reading instrument. We found eye irritation, dryness, and itching were the most common health symptoms, and the prevalence of weekly dermal, mucosal, psychological, and general symptoms were 60.9%, 75.4%, 60.8%, and 64.7%, respectively. Age, and working experience were associated with general symptoms, while gender was related to dermal symptoms. Furthermore, we observed that the prevalence of health symptoms in 15–30 years old office rooms was significantly higher than others, and health symptoms among employees with 11–20 years of working experience were higher than other age groups. Strategies like using a proper ventilation system, air cleaners, maintaining social distance, humidity, and temperature control can help to improve indoor air quality and protect us from the risk of airborne transmitted diseases.

Keywords:

• Occupant well-being
• indoor environmental quality
• health
• office
• indoor air

Acknowledgment

We appreciate the participation of office workers as respondents in this study, who made this research possible.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Healthy Building Laboratory of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.