AN INTERVENTION STUDY OF OUTDOOR AIR SUPPLY RATES AND SICK LEAVE AMONG OFFICE WORKERS

Abstract

We conducted an intervention study of outdoor air supply rates and sick leave among hourly office workers employed by Polaroid Corporation. High and moderately high outdoor air supply rates were specified in a random block design in two office buildings. Indoor CO2 concentrations were measured every ten minutes. We calculated a CO2 concentration differential by subtracting the daily average CO2 concentration in the study area during 1-3 AM, when the building was not occupied, from the same-day average concentration between 9-5 PM. The mean weekly, workday, CO2 concentration differential ranged from 37 to 250 ppm as compared with the ASHRAE recommended maximum differential of 700 ppm. We determined the frequency of sick leave among 294 hourly workers scheduled to work 49804.2 days in the study areas using company records. Generalized additive mixed models showed no association of CO2 differential at the relatively low values studied and sick leave in the studied buildings.