Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a widespread phenomenon in which air pollution in a building can cause illness and disruptive symptoms amongst the building’s occupants. A sick building is a health hazard for building occupants and can be a financial disaster for building owners.

Read our e-book “The facts about Sick Building Syndrome” to learn how to identify serious indoor air quality problems along with air quality solutions that can help reduce the impact of poor indoor air quality on the health of building occupants – including the continued air quality threat posed by COVID-19.

You'll learn about:

• Types of building-related illnesses, including extreme cases like pulmonary fibrosis
• Warning signs of a sick building, including early symptoms of COVID-19
• Biological and chemical pollutants, such as viruses, bacteria, and VOCs
• How to conduct an air quality investigation
• Air quality solutions you can put in place today
• How the IQAir Clean Air Facility program can help improve workplace air quality

SBS, COVID-19, and clean air

Beginning in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the airborne SARS-CoV-2 virus posed one of the biggest health threats to shared work facilities worldwide, forcing millions to work from home – some for well over a year.¹ As workplaces reopen, air quality has become a critical incentive to helping make employees feel safe coming back to work.²

And while viruses are just one of the many indoor air pollutants that can be found in a sick building, they remain among the most deadly and disruptive to a building’s health.

Following the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining good air quality in the workplace can no longer be considered simply an added benefit – it’s critical to helping keep building occupants safe, healthy, and engaged. Workplaces offering comprehensive air quality solutions have an enormous competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent over those who do not address urgent health concerns associated with shared working facilities.

Furthermore, the benefits associated with addressing absences and illnesses related to poor building air quality is well-documented:

• A groundbreaking study in Indoor Air estimated that U.S. companies could experience productivity gains worth $6 billion to $20 billion per year simply by addressing sick building illnesses like respiratory diseases, allergies, and asthma.³
• A 2018 survey of 1,601 North American workers found that good air quality mattered more to employees for workplace satisfaction than benefits like gym facilities, snacks, or wellness programs⁴
• A 2020 study from the Integrated Benefit Institute found that illness costs U.S. businesses up to $575 billion a year and results in 1.5 billion days of absences.⁵