Indoor Environmental Quality Podcast
Business
Welcome to the Indoor Environmental Quality podcast. Thank you for joining me for this episode. I'm Chris White, a project manager with Wynn White Consulting Engineers in Baton Rouge.
Today we’re going to talk about smells. Sometimes indoor environmental quality problems aren’t very straightforward or conventional.
Workplace smells and fragrances are a great example. You might laugh at the idea that smells or fragrances can be a headache (you see what I did there?), but I’ve seen it firsthand, both personally and professionally.
First, a quick story: when I was 13 I took a trip to Arkansas with a friend’s family. It was a great trip, driving the whole time through the hills and valleys (to me, they seemed like mountains!) in a brand new Pontiac. What wasn’t so great was the bit of motion sickness that was exacerbated by the new car smell. And those memories have stayed with me - whenever I smell “new car smell”, I get a little queasy, and sometimes develop a headache.
“But EVERYONE loves new car smell!” - I hear that sometimes when talking about why I’m not a big fan of new car smell. But for others, that smell is a source of joy - pride even, because it represents a new set of wheels. And to be clear, I have nothing against cars, especially new cars. But that smell sets me off.
It turns out that wonderful new car smell isn’t so great - the smell is off gassing adhesives and other materials from the car’s manufacturing process. And some of those off gassing chemicals aren’t so good for us. But since many people love that smell, they can endure the exposure (or at least seem to) with great pleasure. I mean, who doesn’t get at least a little excited when driving a new car?
On to our indoor environments - offices, classrooms, meeting spaces. Are adverse effects from indoor smells, odors, fragrances, (whatever you call them) a big deal?
Here's another story: in 2016 we had an epic flood event in the Baton Rouge area. We got something like 30" of rain in about a three day period. Impressive considering we get about 60" of rain per year. We had flooding all across our region: homes, businesses, schools, you name it.
A lot of people were able to clean out their buildings and move back in and work on restoration. Others, like schools, had to abandon buildings and bring in temporary buildings (or "T buildings"). We had one unfortunate client that leased brand new buildings from a manufacturer. We're talking about 3 schools, each with hundreds of kids, relocating to T buildings.
And as is the case with some prefab buildings, there were indoor air quality issues. All 3 schools had complaints.
Now, when you mention prefab buildings, modular buildings, whatever you want to call them, and indoor air quality, I immediately think of formaldehyde. Remember the Katrina trailers?
In this case, there was a noticeable ammonia smell in random places in the buildings.
Strangely enough, I don't find low amounts of ammonia to be offensive, mainly because it reminds me of the smell of the blueprint machine in my grandfather's engineering office.
After a good bit of analysis, we found the ammonia's source. It was the "wood" roof deck above the suspended ceiling. I say wood using air quotes because it's not real wood, more like a modified OSB. The ammonia wasn't in high enough concentrations to be harmful, but it was noticeable, and there were complaints ranging from headaches to burning eyes.
The ammonia source off-gassed at a high rate because of our hot climate.
Indoor environmental factors affect most people differently. That’s why some people don’t mind co-worker’s cologne or perfume, while a small percentage may experience problems related to that one particular thing. And these problems range from discomfort, uneasiness, nausea, headache, and asthma like symptoms to serious side effects.
Or some problems can be associated with potentially harmful contaminants like ammonia.
So from the standpoint of seriousness, aren’t absenteeism and loss of productivity an issue for all of us? I think so, even if we don’t actively measure their effects on our workplaces.
Other irritating items include:
If you’re still with me, you may be thinking there’s nothing to this, or maybe you’ve lived this yourself.
So what do we do? It’s definitely not a good idea to ban all soaps and deodorants. And all construction materials and furnishings have a smell. So being completely fragrance free isn’t realistic. There doesn’t seem to be a universal response to these indoor environmental problems, except for one:
Don’t dismiss complaints out of hand - the people reporting these problems want to understand that you’re listening to them and taking the problem seriously. They may be giving you an important insight into a more serious problem with your building.
Communicate and Investigate. Talk to your people, hear their stories, and ask for their help. And work on finding the source of the problem.
Some business and building owners have been sued under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) because of these problems. Attorneys have varied opinions on whether or not ADA claims are warranted for this.
This could be a tough issue to handle because every place has a smell! And some could be impossible to mask or make go away, especially if it's related to the overall environment, rather than something we can change like cleaning products or furniture.
But if you’re sued and have all the time and expenses tied up (and you win), what did you gain? So I recommend keeping an eye out for these problems.
There’s a Job Accommodation Network (JAN) article on this topic (I’ll put a link in the show notes) has some interesting recommendations for dealing with these issues:
Here are some interesting articles with more on this topic:
http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/fragrance-allergies-a-sensory-assault
http://www.askamanager.org/2012/11/can-my-office-ban-fragrances-in-the-workplace.html
https://askjan.org/articles/Implementing-a-Workplace-Fragrance-Policy-as-an-Accommodation.cfm?csSearch=2510906_1
Whatever the problem, a potential short term to long term option can be ventilation with odor free, tempered, dehumidified air. Blow the offending smell right out of the building. But you have to check to make sure that'll work.
If you’ve had these problems, what did you do? I’d like to get your feedback so I can share it with others (and if you send in your story I will leave out identities and specific details).
If you’d like more information or help on how to solve your organization’s Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) problems, email me. Or visit our website www.wynnwhite.com or you can find me on Twitter and Instagram: @chriswhitepe
Episode 10 - getting back in the studio!
Episode 9 - Hurricane Laura & Disaster Recovery Tips
Episode 8 - Useful cornavirus information and links to ready.gov and OSHA coronavirus sites
Episode 7 - What Do Mold and Major League Baseball Have in Common?
Episode 5 - Tragic Restaurant Cleaning Accident
Episode 4 - Should You Pull Up That Carpet?
Episode 3 - Ordinary Mold vs. Extraordinary Mold
Episode 2 - Selecting an Environmental Response Contractor
Episode 1 - Avoiding Environmental and Safety Problems During Disaster Response
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Aligned Money Show
Gorse Culture PODcast : The H.R. Detective Agency!
HCI Leadership Revolution
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money