A case of indoor air pollution of ammonia emitted from concrete in a newly built office in Beijing

A case of suspected indoor ammonia contamination from concrete was investigated in an airline company office in Beijing. A standardized questionnaire on indoor environment perceptions, medical symptoms and psychosocial work environment was distributed to all staff, and compared with a reference grou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Building and environment 2010-03, Vol.45 (3), p.596-600
Main Author: Lindgren, Torsten
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ammonia
Applied sciences
Bacteria
Benzene
Building structure
Buildings
Buildings. Public works
Commercial building
concrete
Concrete structure
Concretes
Construction (buildings and works)
Exact sciences and technology
Indoor
Indoor environment
MEDICIN
MEDICINE
Membranes
Odours
Offices
Pollution indoor buildings
Questionnaire study
Sick building syndrome (SBS)
Types of buildings
Volatile organic compounds (VOC)
Volatile organic compounds (VOC) concrete
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Summary:A case of suspected indoor ammonia contamination from concrete was investigated in an airline company office in Beijing. A standardized questionnaire on indoor environment perceptions, medical symptoms and psychosocial work environment was distributed to all staff, and compared with a reference group of office workers from the same company in Stockholm. Temperature, relative humidity, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds (VOC), ammonia, and carbon dioxide were measured both in Beijing and Stockholm. In Beijing mould and bacteria were also measured. Totally 95% ( N = 14) participated. The Beijing staff reported a higher rate of complaints regarding poor work satisfaction, and work stress as compared to the Stockholm reference group. In the total material ( N = 203) the psychosocial environment was related to general symptoms (headache and tiredness) but not odour perception or mucous membrane symptoms. Controlling for age, smoking habits, and psychosocial work environment the Beijing staff had more complaints on unpleasant odour and mucous membrane symptoms. An increased indoor concentration of ammonia (3–6 ppm) and benzene (26.8 μg/m 3) was measured in the indoor air in the Beijing office, as compared to the office in Stockholm (
ISSN:0360-1323
1873-684X
1873-684X
DOI:10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.07.014