Indoor Environmental Risk Factors for Occupant Symptoms in 100 U.S. Office Buildings: Summary of Three Analyses from the EPA BASE Study
Publication Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Mendell, Mark J., Quanhong Lei-Gomez, Myrna Cozen, Howard S. Brightman, Michael G. Apte, Christine A. Erdmann, Gregory Brunner, John R. Girman
Abstract
This paper summarizes three analyses of data on building-related environmental factors and occupant symptoms collected from 100 representative large U.S. office buildings. Using multivariate logistic regression models, we found increased occupant symptoms associated with a number of building-related factors, including lower ventilation rates even at the current guideline levels, lack of scheduled cleaning for air-conditioning drain pans and cooling coils, poor condition of cooling coils, poorly maintained humidification systems, and lower outdoor air intake height. Some expected relationships were not found, and several findings were opposite of expected. Although requiring replication, these findings suggest preventive actions to reduce occupant symptoms in office buildings.
Journal
Healthy Buildings 2006 Conference
Volume
111
Year of Publication
2006
Organization
Indoor Environment Group, Sustainable Energy Department, Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division