Abstract / Description of output
One of the promised benefits of green buildings is providing healthier indoor environments for their occupants, however, this notion is still debated. To test this, a sample of 502 office-based workers from 13 air- conditioned office buildings (44.4% female and 55.6% male) in Jordan completed a questionnaire on Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms. The role played by gender in symptom-reporting was also investigated. Findings showed that building type made no significant difference to the prevalence of all SBS symptoms except the tiredness symptom which was slightly higher in the occupants of conventional buildings. Surprisingly, green buildings and conventional buildings had a higher occurrence of SBS symptoms than what industry standards allow for (up to 20%), suggesting that both building types would be classified as sick buildings. Results have also shown that the only significant difference between male and female workers was in the cough and sore throat symptom, which was reported more often by female workers. These findings reinforce the need for further attention to the occupants’ perceived health in the green buildings, which may use as an indict of the building performance.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Planning Post Carbon Cities |
Subtitle of host publication | 35th PLEA Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, A Coruña, 1st-3rd September 2020: Proceedings |
Publisher | University of A Coruña |
Pages | 193-198 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Volume | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 15 Nov 2020 |