Occupants of sealed, mechanically ventilated commercial buildings — typically offices, schools and healthcare administrative areas — are most frequently affected. Risk rises with high occupant density, recent refurbishment, undersized ventilation, and poor cleaning regimes.

Is SBS the same as building-related illness?

No. SBS is a non-specific symptom cluster. Building-related illness (BRI) is a clinically diagnosable disease with an identifiable causative agent (e.g. Legionnaires', hypersensitivity pneumonitis, CO poisoning).

How is SBS confirmed?

Through a structured investigation combining a validated occupant survey, multi-week measurement of CO₂, VOCs, particulates, temperature and humidity, and a ventilation audit. A defensible diagnosis requires both the symptom pattern and the environmental evidence.

Guidance

What is Sick Building Syndrome?

A plain-English, evidence-grounded guide to SBS — what it is, how it presents, what causes it, and how it is investigated in UK workplaces.

WHO definition UK workplace context Investigation-led

Refurbished office that may exhibit SBS conditions

Definition

SBS in one paragraph

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a condition in which a significant proportion of occupants of a particular building report a consistent cluster of symptoms — headache, fatigue, eye/nose/throat irritation, difficulty concentrating, dry skin — that improve within hours of leaving the building, and for which no single underlying medical diagnosis can be made. The World Health Organization formalised the term in 1983.

SBS is not a single disease; it is the visible signal that the building's indoor environmental quality is failing the people inside it. The investigation task is to identify which combination of ventilation deficits, contaminant sources and thermal-comfort failures is producing the symptom pattern, and to put a defensible remediation plan in front of facilities and occupants.

The corollary diagnosis is building-related illness — a clinically diagnosable disease with a specific causative agent. The two often co-exist and the same investigation methodology covers both.

FAQ

SBS basics

Sick building syndrome is a recognised condition where a significant proportion of building occupants experience symptoms — headaches, fatigue, eye/nose/throat irritation, difficulty concentrating — that improve when they leave the building, and where no single specific illness can be diagnosed. WHO first formalised the term in 1983.

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