Pollution
is driving down office performance and reducing typing and reading speeds by up
to 9 per cent, according to new research.
A
report by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), which advises the
Government on indoor air pollution, found that workers in offices where the air
quality was poor lost the equivalent of 4.5 hours a week due to ‘sick building
syndrome’.
A
separate study by the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy
found factors that affect office workers included filters on air-conditioning
systems and fumes given off by new products such as computers and fax machines,
which inhibited employees’ ability to type accurately and quickly.
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Derek
Crump, associate director of BRE Environment, told The Times newspaper he was
alarmed the UK
had not followed Germany
and Japan
in labelling products according to their emissions.
