Can sick buildings be assessed by testing human performance in field experiments

Abstract The present paper is devoted to the Sick Building Syndrome and describes an experiment comparing a diagnosed “sick” with a “healthy” Swedish preschool. The indoor air quality of both buildings were nearly the same and the concentrations of total separated volatile organic compounds were low according to suggested guidelines for indoor air in nonindustrial buildings. Forty-eight previously unexposed subjects were exposed to each of the two buildings for one day, and the effect of the exposure was assessed with a battery of diverse psychological tests (reaction-time, short-term memory, vigilance, and steadiness). Despite a favorable experimental situation of utilizing a building with a record of producing the Syndrome, the results of psychological tests of mental and motor performance, and therefore the answer to the question raised by the title above, were in the negative. This failure raises questions both regarding the choice of subjects (workers or visitors) and experimental methods including the selection of tests, the duration of exposure, and the environmental setting (a natural vs. laboratory setting). Several combinations of experimental method and subjects which must be considered in future research on indoor pollution are discussed.