['Indoor', 'air', 'quality:', 'a', 'dlscusswn', 'of', 'the', 'termmologv', 'Philip', 'Price', 'is', 'a', 'CCOHS', 'Chemical', 'Specialiss.', 'There', 'is', 'a', 'often', 'a', 'great', 'deal', 'of', 'confusion', 'concerning', 'the', 'terminclogy', 'relatedto', 'indoor', 'air', 'quality', 'problems.', 'Oftenthere', 'are', 'ditferances', 'in', 'the', 'definitions', 'of', 'terms', 'and', 'there', 'is', 'an', 'inconsistent', 'use', 'of', 'terms.', 'For', 'example,', 'terms', 'such', 'as', '“tight', 'buiiding', 'syndrome”', '(TBS)', 'and', '“sick', 'building', 'syndrome”', '(SBS)', 'are', 'often', 'used', 'interchangeably.', 'Sick', 'building', 'syndrome', 'is', 'sometimes', 'used', 'as', 'a', 'generic', 'term', 'to', 'refer', 'to', 'all', 'building-associated', 'symptoms.', 'It', 'is', 'useful', 'to', 'review', 'scme', 'of', 'the', 'definitions', 'given', 'in', 'the', 'literature', 'relating', 'to', 'indoor', 'air', 'quality', 'problems.', 'Some', 'of', 'the', 'information', 'presented', 'below', 'has', 'been', 'derived', 'from', 'the', 'articie', '“Sick', 'building', 'syndrome:', 'review', 'and', 'exploration', 'of', 'causation', 'hypotheses', 'and', 'control', 'methods”,', 'by', 'Hal', "Levin'", 'and', 'the', 'book', '“Problem', 'buildings”,', 'edited', 'by', 'James', 'E.', 'Cone', 'and', 'Michael', 'J.', 'Hodgson?', 'The', 'term', '“tight', 'building', 'syndrome”', '(TBS)', 'was', 'coined', 'in', 'the', '19708', 'to', 'describe', 'the', 'indcor', 'air', 'quality', 'problems', 'and', 'symptoms', 'reported', 'by', 'occupants', 'of', 'offices', 'and', 'other', 'public', 'buildings.', 'The', 'term', 'implies', 'that', 'the', 'problems', 'are', 'caused', 'by', 'the', '“tightness”', 'of', 'the', 'building,', 'which', 'was', 'a', 'consequence', 'of', 'energy', 'conservation', 'measures.', 'However,', 'it', 'has', 'since', 'becomes', 'apparent', 'that', 'many', 'other', 'factors', 'contribute', 'to', 'the', 'complaints.', 'The', 'term', '“sick', 'building', 'syndrome”', '(SBS)', 'is', 'now', 'commonly', 'used', 'to', 'describe', 'the', 'same', 'phenomenon.', 'However,', 'this', 'term', 'implies', 'that', 'a', 'number', 'of', 'factors', 'beside', 'the', 'Philip', 'Price', '“tightness™', 'of', 'the', 'building,', 'may', 'be', 'responsible', 'for', 'the', 'problems', 'experienced', 'by', 'the', 'building', 'occcupants.', 'These', 'may', 'inciude', 'the', 'heating,', 'ventilation', 'and', 'air', 'conditioning', '(HVAC)', 'system,', 'thermal', 'factors.', 'humnidity,', 'buiiding', 'matenals,', 'furnishings,', 'and', 'psychosocial', 'factors.', 'At', 'present,', 'there', 'is', 'no', 'clear', 'understanding', 'of', 'sick', 'building', 'syndrome', 'and', 'no', 'consistentdefinition', 'is', 'used.', 'Sick', 'building', 'syndrome', 'is', 'used', 'to', 'refer', 'to', 'the', 'increased', 'prevalence', 'of', 'nonspecific', 'symptoms', 'of', 'comfort', 'and', 'ill-health,', 'such', 'as', 'membrane', 'irritition,', 'central', 'nervous', 'system', 'symptoms,', 'fatigue', 'and', 'sometimes,', 'dry', 'skin,', 'chest', 'tightness', 'and', 'allergic', 'symptoms,', 'ina', 'significant', 'number', 'of', 'the', 'occupants', 'of', 'non-industrial', 'buildings.', 'Most', 'of', 'these', 'definitions', 'state', 'that', 'these', 'symptoms', 'diminish', 'or', 'disappear', 'whenthe', 'occupantieaves', 'the', 'buiiding', 'and', 'worsens', 'when', 'he\\she', 're-aenters.', 'The', 'symptoms', 'are', 'referred', 'to', 'as', 'nonspecific', 'because', 'no', 'association', 'with', 'specific', 'contaminants', 'or', 'other', 'causal', 'agent(s)', 'can', 'be', 'found,', 'or', 'the', 'causal', 'agent(s)', 'cannot', 'be', 'clearly', 'identified', 'or', 'demonstrated.', 'tn', 'other', 'words,', 'no', 'specific', 'cause', 'of', 'the', 'observed', 'symptoms', 'can', 'be', 'ascertained.', 'Some', 'authorities', 'define', 'sick', 'building', 'syndrome', 'as', 'describing', 'situations', 'where', 'there', 'is', 'the', 'absence', 'of', 'identifiable', 'causes.', 'When', 'the', 'symptoms', 'are', 'no', 'longer', 'considered', '“sick', 'building', 'syndrome.”', 'Many', 'authors', 'use', 'the', 'term', '“building', 'related', 'iliness”', '(BRI)', 'to', 'describe', 'the', 'situation', 'where', 'the', 'causal', 'agent(s)', 'or', 'the', 'origin(s)', 'of', 'the', 'symptoms', 'and', 'complaints', 'are', 'identified.', 'The', 'symptoms', 'are', 'seen', 'as', 'indicators', 'of', 'iliness', 'or', 'diseases', 'The', 'term', '“building', 'associated', 'disease”', 'has', 'been', 'used', 'to', 'include', 'both', 'sick', 'building', 'syndrome', 'and', 'building', 'reiated', 'ittness.', 'Qther', 'authors', 'have', 'used', '“building', 'related', 'iliness”', 'as', 'the', 'all-inclusive', 'term', 'covering', 'two', 'types', 'of', 'situations.', 'i.e.', '“thaose', 'characterized', 'by', 'a', 'generally', 'urwiorm', 'clinical', 'picture', 'for', 'which', 'a', 'specific', 'atiology', 'can', 'often', 'be', 'identified,', 'and', 'those', 'inwhich', 'affected', 'workers', 'repont', 'nonspecific', 'symptoms', 'temporally', 'related', 'to', 'work®’', 'The', 'term', '“building', 'sickness™', 'has', 'also', 'been', 'used', 'to', 'describe', 'reported', 'symptoms', 'in', 'a', 'building', 'in', 'which', 'the', 'occupants', 'report', 'comfort', 'and', 'heaith', 'problems,', 'which', 'they', 'ascribe', 'to', 'the', 'indoor', 'environment.', 'This', 'definitionis', 'similar', 'to', 'that', 'for', 'sick', 'building', 'syndrome.', 'Some', 'authors', 'prefer', 'to', 'focus', 'on', 'thebuilding', 'ratherthan', 'the', 'symptoms', 'and', 'they', 'use', 'the', 'term', '“sick', 'building”', 'to', 'describe', 'buildings', 'in', 'which', 'there', 'are', 'outbreaks', 'of', 'bacterial', 'diseases,', 'thermal', 'discomfort', 'and', 'irritation', 'caused', 'by', 'chemicals.', 'Sick', 'buildings', 'can', 'include', 'buildings', 'contaminated', 'with', 'radon,', 'mouids,', 'and', 'contagious', 'agents.', 'The', 'cause', 'of', 'the', 'problems', 'in', 'a', 'building', 'may', 'be', 'due', 'to', 'engineering,', 'space', 'design,', 'or', 'maintenance', 'problems,', 'or', 'psychosocial', 'factors,', 'for', 'example,', 'rather', 'than', 'medical', 'problems', 'caused', 'by', 'pollutants.', 'The', 'general', 'term', '“probiemn', 'building”', 'has', 'been', 'coined', 'to', 'refer', 'to', 'buildings', 'in', 'which', 'there', 'are', 'problems', 'and/or', 'complaints', 'by', 'the', 'occupants', 'whatever', 'the', 'causes.', 'Recently,', 'the', 'term', '“heaithy', 'building”', 'has', 'been', 'coined', 'to', 'refer', 'to', 'buildings', 'that', 'have', 'an', 'absence', 'of', 'o', 'problems', 'when', 'evaiuated', 'by', 'a', 'manboamt;nedmmewllding.', 'buikling', 'diagnasis®', 'e', 'For', 'raferences', 'see', 'page', '38.', 'At', 'the', 'Caentre,', 'August', '1991', '25', '!', 'SECless0se']