Workers most at risk from poor air quality
Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the biggest issue currently facing the American worker, according to a newly released membership survey from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). The Fairfax, VA-based association represents nearly 12,500 professionals in the field of occupational and environmental health and safety. A similar survey of workers finds them in agreement.
IAQ has made headlines frequently in the last several years over growing concerns about "sick building syndrome." Poor IAQ can result from culprits such as mold-filled ductwork or formaldehyde-treated carpet. In some cases, entire buildings have been shut down for cleaning and renovation. More than 40% of AIHA members surveyed named IAQ the first or second most important health issue for workers.
Members noted several other key concerns for the nation’s work force. They include workplace reproductive hazards, environmental lead, and the creation and implementation of an ergonomics standard. Such a standard, though voluntary, could greatly influence and improve physical working conditions for a variety of employees, including the millions of office workers who spend hours a day at computer workstations.
AIHA members also say that changes under way at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will have a significant impact on working conditions in the next several years.
The survey, conducted every three years, is designed to review members’ perceptions about the profession of occupational and environmental health and safety, as well as challenges facing the American workplace. Earlier this year, Association Research Inc. (ARI), an independent firm, mailed 1,500 surveys to randomly selected AIHA members. ARI received 745 completed surveys for a return rate of 49.7%.
In a separate survey, 75% of people who are employed full time ranked the quality of air at work as very important. Those results come from a nationwide survey conducted this past July for Chelsea Group — an indoor air quality strategic consulting company in Itasca, IL — by Market Facts, an international market research firm.
The survey "not only shows that the majority of Americans are concerned about indoor air quality, but they also are willing to put their money where their mouths are," says George Benda, chairman and CEO of Chelsea Group.
"Overall concern for indoor air quality is at an all-time high. Looking at the employed full-time population surveyed, not only did 75% think air quality in the workplace is very important and another 20% think it is somewhat important, but only 3.1% said that it was not important," he says.
Of that same survey group, more than 80% think that the air quality in their homes is very important. More than 80% of the employed full-time population also said they would spend their own discretionary income on one of four IAQ improvements at home, including products and services that would get rid of germs, bacteria, mold, dust, and odors, to improve air quality.
In both home and the workplace, more than 95% of those surveyed think that the quality of the air is somewhat or very important, he says.
"These numbers are much higher than national surveys conducted as recently as the end of 1997, when a study sponsored by Underwriters Labo-ratory Inc. showed that about 34% of people surveyed thought indoor air quality was very important and about 41% said it was somewhat important," Benda says.
The survey involved interviewing 1,000 adults by telephone over a three-day period.
[A complete copy of the membership survey can be obtained from AIHA. Telephone: (703) 849-8888. Web site: www.aiha.org.]
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