Stuffy Office Air – How a Good Indoor Climate Safeguards Performance

The Workplace Ordinance states that enclosed work rooms must have "a sufficient amount of health-friendly air to breathe." As a rule, this corresponds to outdoor air quality. The nitrogen dioxide threshold in offices is accordingly 40 micrograms per cubic meter as an annual average. This value is set based on the EU's air quality directive and the World Health Organization (WHO), and has been incorporated into the Federal Immission Control Act. The threshold's purpose is to protect infants, children, the sick, pregnant women, and the elderly. The Technical Rules for Workplaces set a comparable value for the indoor climate in normal offices, to protect employees.

Confusion sometimes arises because there's still an older threshold from the 1990s, set at 60 micrograms per cubic meter of air, referring to the weekly average for indoor spaces. This value, though, only applies as a guideline, originally defined by an indoor air hygiene commission long before the EU directive. Speaking to the ARD Faktenfinder fact-checking team, the German Federal Environment Agency recommends, based on current scientific findings, no longer applying this value. An adjustment is expected in the coming years.

Which thresholds apply for carbon dioxide in offices and at the workplace can be found on our readings page.

Reduced performance from bad air

Healthy room air and a good indoor climate significantly shape office employees' well-being and their ability to concentrate and perform. The brain needs enough oxygen to work at peak performance. What's decisive for consistently healthy office air isn't so much the declining oxygen share in stale air, but above all the carbon dioxide content of the air you breathe: fresh air consists of 21 percent oxygen and contains about 0.04 percent CO2 (400 ppm). When we exhale, we return air to the office with an oxygen content of 16 percent, but containing four percent carbon dioxide (40,000 ppm).

While the oxygen content of the air in an open-plan office thus slowly decreases, only dropping below the critical mark of 18 percent after hours, the highly concentrated exhaled air raises the carbon dioxide share very quickly. Everyone knows it: an hour of focused work in a closed conference room often leads to headaches and concentration difficulties — this already happens at carbon dioxide levels between one and 2.5 percent (1,000 to 2,500 ppm).

The official workplace exposure limit is 5,000 ppm — the German Federal Environment Agency's working group considers concentrations below 1,000 ppm unproblematic. Values between 1,000 and 2,000 are classified as "noticeable," and concentrations over 2,000 ppm are considered unacceptable.

Health consequences of stuffy room air

Stuffy or poor air demonstrably affects our health. As CO2 levels in the blood rise, blood vessels widen to take in as much oxygen as possible. When this happens, blood pressure drops, leading to sluggishness or fatigue. The problems range from mild complaints to chronic damage:

• Well-being: bad office air significantly reduces human well-being. This shows up as fatigue, irritability, or mood swings. If this continues, sudden headaches or nausea can result. This effect is often described as "sick building syndrome."
• Mucous membranes: continuously breathing poor air can lead to irritation of the mucous membranes, up to laryngitis.
• Eyes: besides the airways, the eyes are also vulnerable — conjunctivitis can likewise be a consequence of poor room air.
• Allergies: in poor air, we come into contact with allergens such as dust mites, mold spores, hair, or skin flakes. This contact can lead to a runny nose, allergic asthma, or even eczema.
• Back and neck pain: in office environments, drafts or cold airflows often lead to pain in the back or neck area.

Many of the symptoms mentioned are intensified by hours of sitting, and thus a lack of movement.

How do you safeguard performance?

The basic recommendation for avoiding stuffy office air is to check air quality — and then respond, for example when the carbon dioxide level exceeds the critical threshold of 1,000 ppm. The air-Q air analyzer is ideal for this.

When ventilating, make sure the window(s) aren't just tilted open, but fully opened. Tilting the windows creates drafts. As a general rule, it's advisable to ventilate for a maximum of five minutes every two hours. Ventilating against bad air to safeguard performance does have downsides, though: if the window faces, say, a busy street, ozone, particulate matter, or pollen may enter the office from outside.

To rule out ineffective ventilation, the air-Q again helps: by recording air quality development in real time, you can precisely track which readings improved or worsened as a result of ventilating. So it pays to find the right time of day for longer ventilation.

Ventilation is of course also possible through open doors: if there's no busy street or large parking lot in front of the building, ventilating through open doors can be more effective than through windows. That's because it more reliably exchanges the air located below window level too.

More tips for a better indoor climate:

• Place printers or copiers in separate rooms
• Damp-mop the floor daily
• Use plants to create a biophilic indoor climate, absorb a bit of CO2, and counteract dry air
• Use air purifiers (with high airflow and multiple filters) or humidifiers
• Employees should avoid strongly scented perfumes, creams, etc.

Less stuffy office air, for greater well-being, concentration, and performance through a healthy indoor climate, isn't rocket science. Anyone who consciously follows these tips and continuously monitors air quality can go about their work without headaches or limitations.