Individuals find themselves with symptoms or illnesses which seem to be associated with their time spent in a specific building.   The symptoms usually appear or worsen when they enter and subside after they leave the building.  A serious disease or pathogen which propagates within a building structure can lead to deadly Building-Related Illnesses.

 

Most people try to continue working after they develop these symptoms, prolonging their exposures and usually increasing the severity of their reactions by this delay. Modern society rarely questions the healthiness of the home and work environments, though there have been many well-publicized cases.  The environmental health professional always assumes there is a problem until the building is tested and shows no hazardous conditions existing.  In this manner, one does not keep unprotected occupants in harm's way while the evaluation process is being carried out.   In past centuries, the homes of sick people were burned to the ground to prevent others in the village from getting sick.  Communicable diseases have long been known as such, well before the modern germ theory was discovered.  Everyone should be educated in how their environments might present health or safety hazards to them.

Copyright (c) 1999.  All Rights Reserved by J.H. Guth.