“The prevalence of symptoms during work in offices has not really declined during the last decades – despite modern offices. The question is why?”
30th of November 2017
Course leader presentation: Peder Wolkoff
Seminar on Indoor Air Quality and Acute Health Effects in Offices, 21st-22nd of March 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark
Peder Wolkoff is senior researcher, former research professor in indoor environmental science (2004-2012) at National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NRCWE), Denmark, and adjunct professor at Chemistry Department, University of Copenhagen since 2009. Dr. Wolkoff holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry (1976) and a D.Sc. (1996) in indoor environmental science, both obtained from University of Copenhagen.
Indoor Air Quality and Acute Health Effects in Offices is an important and current issue to discuss in 2018, because about 60-65% of the working force works in so-called non-industrial environments.
Office workers are exposed to a cocktail of low-dose environmental, microbiological, psychological and psychosocial loads which may be associated with adverse health outcomes. Sensory irritation in eyes and nose, respiratory effects, and CNS effects are common symptoms. For example, major epidemiological studies show an average prevalence of 30-40% during the last 4 weeks in office workers that complain about eye symptoms – among top-four symptoms together with irritated throat, fatigue and headache.
What is new in the field?
The prevalence of complaints (symptoms) during work in offices has not really declined during the last decades – despite modern offices. The question is why? In-depth and integrated analysis will help us trying to understand how and what can be done to understand the complexity of symptom reporting in offices and improve the office environment.
Dr. Wolkoff has been pioneer within chamber testing and labelling of building and consumer product emissions; including, biological testing of the emissions and mixtures of chemicals for airway effects. His latest research focuses on airway effects of ozone-initiated chemistry, including chemical and ultrafine particle emissions from consumer products, eye symptomatology, and humidity in the office environment. Dr. Wolkoff has 154 papers in journals with peer-review, resulting in an h-index of 38 and 50, respectively, in ISI-WebofKnowledge and Google Scholar.
Dr. Wolkoff was course leader of six previous NIVA courses on indoor air quality in office environments (1989-2006).
More information: Course web page
Registration: Course registration
Last registration date: 21st of January 2018
