engleski

Harmful factors in the work environment and sick building syndrome

Background: Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a group of symptoms relatively common among office workers. Such symptoms could have an important impact on the workers' health and productivity. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of SBS symptoms among employees of public institutions from the city of Osijek (eastern Croatia) and to assess whether there is a connection between the prevalence of these symptoms and subjects' demographic characteristics, smoking habit, length of working experience, professional qualifications as well as connection between the prevalence of SBS symptoms among subjects' and psychosocial and physical factors in their work environment. Study design: Cross-sectional study conducted during May 2013 among employees of public institutions from the city of Osijek (eastern Croatia). Participants and methods: The study included 178 subjects, 33.7% (60/178) males and 66.3% (118/178) females, mean age 39.3±10.4 years. The overall response rate was 59.3% (178/300). Data on gender, age, smoking habits, length of working experience and professional qualifications of the subjects as well as data pertaining to the frequency of occurrence of certain symptoms of SBS among subjects and data pertaining to the exposure of subjects to certain harmful psychosocial and physical factors in their work environment were gathered through an anonymous questionnaire. Results: 61.8% (110/178) of the subjects had one or more symptoms of SBS. The most frequently identified symptoms were: fatigue, feelings of head pressure, headache, itching, burning sensation or irritation of the eyes and dry/sore throat. The study showed that all the observed symptoms of SBS were more frequent in females, subjects aged 33-46 years, non-smokers, subjects whose length of working experience was 1-9 years and subjects of secondary or higher education. The majority of subjects were exposed to certain harmful psychosocial (96.1% ; 171/178) and physical (80.9% ; 144/178) factors in their work environment. The most frequently identified harmful psychosocial factor in the subjects' work environment were excessive workload and the inability to influence the quality of their own work conditions, while the most frequently identified harmful physical factor in the subjects' work environment were exposure to polluted indoor air, dry air, dust and dirt. The subjects' exposed to certain harmful psychosocial and physical factors in their work environment were more frequently diagnosed with one or more SBS symptoms in comparison with the subjects' who were not exposed to mentioned harmful factors in their work environment. Conclusions: Symptoms of SBS often occur among employees of public institutions from the city of Osijek (eastern Croatia), which compromises their health and productivity. By simply adjusting working conditions and practices it is possible to reduce prevalence of symptoms of SBS which would ultimately improve the health condition and overall productivity of the employees.

building; Croatia; employee; health; job; physical factors in the work environment; psychosocial factors in the work environment; sick building syndrome

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