This session will provide attendees with an overview of the NIOSH and EPA aims and generalized outcomes from studying office buildings across the country. The NIOSH study consisted of 80 "complaint" buildings, and the EPA Building Assessment Survey Evaluation (BASE) consisted of 100 "non-complaint" buildings. Following the general summaries from NIOSH and EPA speakers, a presentation will be given comparing the results from both studies for building-related symptoms. From the BASE study of non-complaint buildings there is a non-zero baseline of perceived work-related symptoms among large office building occupants. Forty-five percent of the responders expressed at least one health-related symptom while in the workplace of the BASE study. Comparison of the symptom-grouping prevalence rates between the two studies will be presented. How can this be applied to IEQ investigations? The final presenter will offer insight into using this data to evaluate what level of issues may exist in a building during an IEQ investigation.
• The NIOSH IEQ Problem Building Evaluations Database. K. Wallingford, NIOSH, Cincinnati, OH.
• Overview of EPA BASE Study. J.R. Girman, EPA, Washington, DC.
• Evaluating Building-Related Symptoms Using the EPA BASE Study Results. H. Brightman, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA.
• Lessons Learned from the NIOSH and EPA Studies Applied to Routine IEQ Investigations. H. Burge, EMLab P&K, San Bruno, CA.