Study on Indoor Air Quality and Sick Building Syndrome at the Malaysia Apartments

In recent years, more buildings are being built in Malaysia. Owing to the lack of relevant codes or regulations for the apartments building many problem have been incurred after construction especially for indoor air environment. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (2017), define Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is an environmental condition where the quality relates to the health and the productivity of the users’ of the space arounds buildings and structure, especially it is influence the occupants health and comfort (Institute of Medicine, 2011).

Therefore, over the past decade, attention has been directed toward the problem of indoor air quality. It has become increasingly clear that exposure to indoor air pollution may not only unpleasant, but can have adverse health effects are serious. Children may be more likely than adults to be affected by indoor air pollution (Sofuoglu, 2011). Poor indoor air quality has been linked to sick building syndrome (SBS), and reduced productivity. Besides, IAQ can be affected by gases (including carbon monoxide, radon, compounds), microbial contaminants (mold, bacteria), or any mass or energy stressor that can induce adverse health conditions.

In developing nations the IAQ is a major health hazard among occupants. Apartment house air tightened and insulated has advantages to conserve energy but cause the indoor air quality problem. Due to the lack of the natural ventilation, poor indoor air quality and insufficient ventilation rate have resulted high risk of indoor environments from contaminants driven by finishing materials and residential activities such as cooking, cleaning and housekeeping. It is urgent to apply the mechanical ventilation design systematically in apartment houses. However, in fact, indoor air quality have been ranked among the top five environmental risks to public health.

According to the USA Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA, 2014), human exposure to indoor air pollutants may be 2 to 5 times and occasionally more than 100 times higher than outdoor air, because a home’s interior accumulates and concentrates pollutants given off by finishes, furnishings and the daily activities of the occupants (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2014). Vardoulakis et al., (2015) and Yousef et al., (2016) concluded that poor indoor quality (IAQ) leads to short and long term impact on the resident's performance, productivity, and physical and mental health development.

According to Industrial Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality (2010), sick building syndrome (SBS) is defined as an illness that occurs among occupants that appear to be linked to time spent in a building due to poor IAQ. The causes of this sickness cannot be identified and it is not specific. Due to that, there have been vigorous debates over the causes of SBS and it is prudent to say that SBS has various factorial causes.

Thereby, indoor air quality (IAQ) has significant relations with SBS. Low indoor air quality arise when the building performance is not meeting the standards and quality designed. Indeed, the issue of sick building syndrome (SBS) should be addressed seriously since the trends of housing changes from times to times due to land limitations, sustainability and affordability of people (Ng, 2016; Lim, 2016; Baqutaya et al., 2016; Gambero, 2014). Due to this matter, this research was designed to identify the Indoor Air Quality and Sick Building Syndrome among occupants of apartment houses at Shah Alam, Selangor.