ALLERGY: AVOIDING A BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE
Next to your bedroom, you spend the most time in your workplace. You might assume that people with industrial jobs have the most allergy problems. Not so, says Dr McGovern. Office workers – secretaries, clerical workers, administrative assistants, computer programmers and so on – suffer the lion’s share of work-related allergic complaints.
‘In almost every major office you will find people who are bothered by an allergy,’ notes Dr Falliers. Not too surprising, if you glance around the average office. Carbonless typewriter ribbons give off petroleum fumes. Photocopy machines gas out a host of chemicals. Paper is impregnated with formaldehyde and other chemicals – to say nothing of the ink. Then you’ve got vinyl chairs, and formaldehyde in the panelling, rugs and ceiling tiles. Felt-tip marking pens. Correction fluid. Fluorescent lights. Cigarette smoke. Potted plants. Devout users of perfume and aftershave lotion. All in all, enough to match the fumes in any chemical factory if you’re highly sensitive to chemicals.
Even if you could easily find a new job, you would have no guarantee the same problem wouldn’t arise in your new workplace. So your best bet is to stay put and make the best of it, and here’s how.
• Dilution is part of the solution. If you can, reduce the chemical content of your breathing atmosphere. Open a window and dilute the chemical concentration by ventilation. (Unless of course, a fleet of diesel trucks parks right outside your building. Or your office overlooks a parking garage.)
• Try to leave the building once or twice a day if the outdoor air pollution levels permit. Take a walk outdoors at lunchtime instead of spending the entire hour in the cafeteria.
• If you spend a lot of time on the phone, remove the wad of bacteria-killing cotton in the receiver. (Not all phones have it. To check yours, simply unscrew the mouthpiece on the receiver.)
• Cover the typewriter ribbon and well with a plain piece of cardboard.
Smokers in the workplace pose special problems. Banishing smokers to the rest rooms is really no solution at all, since nonsmokers eventually have to go to the bathroom, too. A lot depends on how co-operative your boss and co-workers are. Your doctor may be able to back you.
‘I have personally written letters to employers on behalf of a patient saying: “This person should stay away from smoke,” says Dr Falliers. ‘Most companies are willing to accommodate. Maybe they can move the person to a different work station. I’ve had a couple of flight attendants as patients, who got sick if they served the smoking section of planes. So the airline lets them serve only the front and someone else serves the back. But there aren’t always such easy answers.’
Of course, you may not necessarily be alone in your misery, and in an office situation, ‘strength in numbers’ can more easily bring about change for everyone.
‘We’ve had buildings closed because 100 people got sick,’ says Dr McGovern. ‘Two people in one office would get sick, two others from the fourth floor would get sick, and so on, until one way or another they all wound up in my waiting room. In giving their history, they’d all say, “I work at such and such an address.” And I’d say, “Wait a minute! Other people working in that building are also getting sick. Let’s investigate.”
‘So I tell people to go to their union. Or get the names of other people who are allergic. Or write to the company and ask them to improve the ventilation in the building. Sooner or later, companies will find they can’t seal up the windows, blow smoke in everyone’s face and allow toxic indoor pollution to accumulate in the workplace. Too many people are being permanently disabled. Lawsuits by people with environmentally induced illnesses are increasing.’
For some, just getting the home environment cleared up will be enough to enable them to go to work and do their job. ‘Maintaining the home oasis can go a long way towards making unavoidable exposure in the workplace more tolerable,’ says Dr Rea.
‘After patients start to remove the chemicals in their office,’ says Dr McGovern, ‘and they clean up their house – mainly giving themselves a “safe” room – they’ll improve within a few days or a week. They’ll be able to think more clearly, or their joints will stop aching, et cetera, and they’ll notice the difference.’
*48/65/5*
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Tags: Allergies
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