April 17, 2009—The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has published a Science Blog called Multifaceted Approach to Assess Indoor Environmental Quality that gives a brief overview of current IEQ issues and outlines the research NIOSH is conducting.
Findings cited from NIOSH and other organizations include:
- Of new-onset asthma cases in adults, 15-23 percent are work-related asthma;
- The highest percentage of work-related asthma occurred among operators, fabricators, and laborers (32.9 percent); and
- Between 35 and 60 million of the 89 million indoor environment workers have building-related symptoms of eye, nose, and throat irritations or headache and fatigue.
According to NIOSH, it has been estimated that indoor environmental quality-related health issues cost businesses in the range of $20-70 billion annually due to lost productivity, decreased performance, and sick absences, often from work-related asthma.
NIOSH says that the most likely cause of these illnesses is a mixed exposure of chemical classes such as particulate matter and oxygenated organic species. Materials emitting high formaldehyde levels are being eliminated from indoor environments, but a variety of other consumer products used in indoor environments for cleaning, surface finishing, and deodorizing, including newer “natural” or “green” cleaning products, most likely contribute to the problem.
