Sick Building Syndrome and Productivity of Building Users in South East, Nigeria

Humans spend about 90% of their time inside buildings. This time is mostly spent in residential and office buildings. However, it has been found that an increasing number of building occupants feel sick when in particular buildings but get relieved when they leave these buildings. This phenomenon is known as Sick Building Syndrome. Amongst other negative effects, Sick Building Syndrome causes a reduction in the productivity of people who work or live in these buildings. Loss of productivity due to Sick Building Syndrome cost as much as 60 billion US dollars annually. This is a very great loss. It is against this background that this paper examined how the incidence of Sick Building Syndrome affects the productivity of building occupants in office and residential environments as well as the maintenance culture practised in this two building types in the South East of Nigeria. Data were generated from questionnaires distributed to three hundred and eight occupants of the sampled buildings. Collated data were analyzed using tables, Simple Percentage, Frequency distribution and SPSS 21. Amongst others, the findings show that occupants of office buildings were more susceptible to the Sick Building Syndrome and as a consequence experiences a decline in productivity more than their counterparts in residential buildings, because those in offices observed less maintenance routines than those in residential buildings. Amongst others, the study recommended that building occupants should practice the maintenance culture established by this study for healthier buildings and increased productivity.