Evaluation of building ventilation systems

Over the past several years, NIOSH has responded to health hazard evaluation requests from workers in dozens of office environments. Typically, the employees have complained of headache, eye and upper respiratory tract irritation, dizziness, lethargy and the inability to concentrate. Most often "inadequate ventilation" has been blamed for these complaints. Of paramount importance in the evaluation and correction of these problems is an effective evaluation of the building's ventilation system. Heating, ventilating and air-conditioning conditions that can cause worker stresses include: migration of odors or chemical hazards between building areas; reentrainment of exhaust from building fume hoods or through heat wheels; buildup of microorganisms in the HVAC system components; and poor odor or environmental control due to insufficient "fresh" outdoor air or system heating or cooling malfunction. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of building ventilation systems, the ventilation problems associated with poorly designed or operating systems, and the methodology for effectively evaluating system performance.