An Inside Job Cleaning Up Air Quality in the Workplace

December 14, 1998

by Herman

The quality of the air we breathe while in the workplace has become an issue

of increasing concern to both the government and the public over the past

two decades. Every year, the federal government spends millions of

taxpayers' dollars to research indoor air quality problems. And while

concern for healthful air in the workplace is not a new issue, the focus has

shifted from manufacturing and industrial settings to problems of air

quality in the office environment. As the United States moves toward a

service and information economy, the number of office workers continues to

rise. That increase, along with a growing awareness among office workers of

workplace hazards, has fueled both public and private concern about indoor

air pollution.(1)

The energy crisis of the 1970s, coupled with advances in technology, has led

to a dramatic change in office facilities. Pressures to conserve energy

following the oil embargo resulted in the use of new insulation materials;

buildings were tightly sealed and ventilation was controlled to contain

energy costs. Today's modern offices are housed in climate-controlled,

energy-efficient buildings where workers are surrounded by an array of

high-tech equipment, synthetic materials, and artificial light. And while

these changes have improved comfort, increased efficiency, and reduced

energy costs, they have brought with them chemical and biological

contaminants that contribute to the growing problem of indoor air pollution,

and ergonomic and psychosocial problems that also affect workers' physical

and psychological well-being.

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