THE EFFECTS OF INDOOR CHEMISTRY PRODUCTS ON OCCUPANTS � INDOOR AIR PERCEPTION AND WORK PERFORMANCE

Abstract

An increasing number of people are staying indoors thus ensuring good indoor air quality not only safeguards the health of occupants but also enhances work productivity. Poor air quality result from many reasons and one of them is the presence of chemical pollutants, which can react with ozone to produce Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOAs). These organic products can be harmful to a person’s health. Various measures have been investigated to reduce SOAs, one example being altering the rate of outdoor air supply, and this study had looked at how new filters can mitigate such problems as compared to used filters in ventilation system. Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms and perceptual responses were observed from conducting field experiments, which simulate an office environment with the presence of SOAs. Work performance under such conditions was also analyzed from the work-related tasks. The paired t-test was used to compare and verify the results obtained – difference in perceptual responses between experimental sessions, difference in perceptual responses between experimental conditions and difference in work performance in terms of speed and accuracy. Results have shown that subjects observed more SBS symptoms after the three hours’ exposure to used filters than in new filters, i.e. irritation to eyes, nose and throats and headache. However, work performance did not show any significant difference except for numerical addition and arousal, which have shown improvement in speed and accuracy respectively. The duration of the experiment was relatively short and performance test was carried out during the first half of the experiment. Thus conclusion made from the experiment should extent to longer periods. Further studies have to be done to validate these results.