Any Ideas What Is Causing This 'sick Building' Problem?

[sunsocks]

Where I work in the offices (less than 1 year) my eyes sting and are sore and my nose runs all day and I sneeze quite a bit. It stops when I leave work. The other lady at work in the same office also has the same problem with her eyes plus she coughs a lot while at work - this stops when she goes home. We have had the offices 'deep cleaned', tried a dehumidier and an air filtration system. We have had the loft cleaned out totally. We have also had the laboratory do a spore count which appears okay...... Does anyone have any other ideas of what we can do or what can be causing it? It is a brick building with tiled roof and carpet tiled floor.

[Eve]

How old is the building? Could there be anything in the roof or walls, like birds nesting?

What kind of area is it in? Are you in a residential or office or industrial type environment and urban or country?

Has the problem been the same all the time you and colleagues have been there or did it just start happening?

[pixie373]

Is it a false ceiling? How old is the building?

[sunsocks]

We think the office was built in the 50's or 60's - It has a suspended ceiling which the maintenance men have gone around with sealer to make sure that no dust can come from above it. Above the office is a loft space which did house old paperwork and stuff like that but we have cleared it all out and swept it all so it looks like a typical boarded loft area which is now empty. No nesting birds or bats or anything like that. We are on the edge of a Warwickshire market town - a bit more rural than urban. Apparently previous employees who worked in this office had the same problems - I can understand why they left as some days it is so bad that tears form and my eyes start running so I look like I am crying (very attractive!). Thank you all for your input so far.

[factor-fiction]

How many people are there in the office altogether, and how many of them suffer from this issue.
If there is only two of you is it possible that you are allergic to her in some way - maybe her perfume.

[EDDIE51]

Not a solution but antihystermine tablets (piriton) may help with the symptoms

[pixie373]

I would try antihistamine, as if they work, you at least know it is an allergy to something. I would seriously think about looking for another job too, as they don't seem to be too bothered about you and i can't see this is doing your health any good. Without knowing the cause, you don't know if it's something that might give you long-term problems, either.

[jd_1984]

We had an employee take a leave of absence claiming SBS (Sick Building Syndrome). A company doctor found the claims unfounded and our employer was fully conforming to the HSE regulations.
How is the ventalation? How clean are the offices, are they routinely cleaned?
How much natural daylight to you get?
The carpet could be the culprit. The stingy eyes could be an eyesight issue especially if you stare at a computer screen all day or have false lighting throughout the workplace.

[sunsocks]

The offices are cleaned regularly and this problem has occurred to other people who have worked here previously so it can't be down to any of our perfume. The ventilation is the old-fashioned opening of windows. I have previously worked using computers for longer periods of time at different employers and it doesn't affect my eyes there. The symptoms are only when I am in this office - nowhere else. Also there is plenty of sunlight in here. I have tried taking anti-histamines but they don't make any difference at all.
Pixie - these are my concerns too - I wonder if there are any long term effects - not just the discomfort all day

[Maydup]

If this has happened to previous employees its clearly not an isolated incident, nor an individual allergy of yours. I would encourage you to get an expert opinion now.

If you don't have the authority to get someone in then its time to put in a written grievance to your manager. It doesn't need to be aggressive or threatening but it should contain the word grievance and request some action.

I'm sure they would like it sorted and don't really want their employees crying all day long. Or leaving come to that.