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Air Pollution is Bad For Productivity, Even in Office Jobs (qz.com)
It seems reasonable that breathing in pollution would affect worker productivity, but only recently has the damage been documented. From a report: In a series of studies that match readings from air monitors with the results of workers who are paid for daily piece work, researchers demonstrated that breathing polluted air impedes the ability of workers to pick berries, pack fruit, or even make phone calls from office cubicles.
The studies, which were collected in the journal Science (pay wall) in January, were conducted over 10 years by team of researchers at Columbia, the University of Southern California, and the University of California, San Diego. The biggest impact of air pollution was measured in farm workers in California's Central Valley, who were paid by the volume of grapes and blueberries they collected. On days that had higher readings of ground-level ozone -- a harmful gas formed when tailpipe emissions mix with sunlight -- worker productivity slumped.
Over the two years they measured the ozone, readings ranged from 10 to 86 parts per billion, and averaged 48 ppb. For every 10 ppb increase in ozone, worker productivity fell 5.5%. For farm workers paid about $9 or $10 an hour, the lost productivity translates into about 45 cents an hour of lower pay, said Matthew Neidell, an economist at Columbia and an author of the studies.
The studies, which were collected in the journal Science (pay wall) in January, were conducted over 10 years by team of researchers at Columbia, the University of Southern California, and the University of California, San Diego. The biggest impact of air pollution was measured in farm workers in California's Central Valley, who were paid by the volume of grapes and blueberries they collected. On days that had higher readings of ground-level ozone -- a harmful gas formed when tailpipe emissions mix with sunlight -- worker productivity slumped.
Over the two years they measured the ozone, readings ranged from 10 to 86 parts per billion, and averaged 48 ppb. For every 10 ppb increase in ozone, worker productivity fell 5.5%. For farm workers paid about $9 or $10 an hour, the lost productivity translates into about 45 cents an hour of lower pay, said Matthew Neidell, an economist at Columbia and an author of the studies.
The biggest impact of air pollution was measured in farm workers in California's Central Valley, who were paid by the volume of grapes and blueberries they collected. On days that had higher readings of ground-level ozone -- a harmful gas formed when tailpipe emissions mix with sunlight -- worker productivity slumped.
I'd be curious about how (or whether) they controlled for other factors from the weather phenomena that generated the ozone exposure: Temperature, humidity, sunlight vs. cloudy vs. rain. Also other pollution components: Smoke, NOx, CO, etc.
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What's interesting is that ozone is often used in office environments as a way of getting rid of other odors (e.g. mold). So there are several possibilities:
I think this calls for some more direct experimentation.
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Excitingly, elevated levels of CO2 — such as those found in poorly ventilated rooms, or as atmospheric CO2 levels continue to climb, in our environment at large — also diminish our cognitive ability. See, e.g. this paper among others.
If we don't stop burning coal and hydrocarbons soon, we'll be too stupid to ameliorate the consequences,
just pay the workers less so you can hire more at the same rate. Productivity is only a problem if you think of workers as human beings.
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I biked to school in Southern California in the 1980s. This was back before the air pollution controls had gotten really strict, so every day there was a thick blanket of brown smog which rolled from Los Angeles eastward. Most days you couldn't even see the mountains 15-20 miles away. Ozone was a big component of this smog, and it makes your lungs hurt when you breathe deeply. Often after biking home, I'd be unable to do any strenuous physical activity simply because I couldn't breathe deeply enough. I recall reading an article in the L.A. Times about a study which concluded that going for a morning jog in the smog was worse for your health than being a couch potato and not jogging.
Carbon dioxide begins to affect human cognition and decision-making ability at around 600 ppm. It's a problem in newer energy-efficient buildings; some companies are beginning to install CO2 scrubbers in their ventilation systems to boost productivity.
Having worked around ozone producing electronics most of my life, it's really a stretch to believe that a minuscule 10 ppb increase could possibly cause a 5.5 percent decrease in productivity. Ozone is known to cause irritation to the lungs and mucous membranes in concentrations above 100 ppb, but having done it's damage to these tissues it seems logical that very little of it would make it into the blood as O3. What could possibly be the mechanism for the effects found by this research?
Since ozone found at ground level is largely produced by automobile emissions, isn't it more likely that the drop in productivity is due to another byproduct of petroleum combustion?
NR
Dirty air is bad! We know that since 150 years....although there are plenty of deniers to that fact in the federal government. I guess that rule does not apply to exclusive golf courses.
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Frail human workers are subject to environmental effects! They slow down when they can't breathe or it's too hot! we must replace them with robots!
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Actually, you're not far off. Perfumes and colognes are major contributors to office toxic pollutants, especially in low air exchange modern office environments.
Give a hoot, don't perfume!
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Offices are the worst. Many offices reek of toxic chemicals leaching from the furniture, the carpets, the toxic cleaning chemicals used, the air conditioning system, and so on. This together with the toxic white flourescent lighting, it really is a health hazard. The buildings are sealed up tight trapping all of the toxic air. The WORST is the hideous and health destroying LED lighting which should be declared a human health hazard. We really need OSHA regulations becuase it's such a workplace health hazard, both the air pollutants issuing from the materials and the headache inducing, nauseating LED and flourescent lighting. Whatever happened to the trend to build offices out of low emissions, low chemical materials and to use warmer, less harsh incandescent lighting?
if you suspect the air quality in your work environment is unhealthy. Few things motivate a company
faster than OSHA threatening to shut their entire building down if they don't get shit fixed asap. Years
of complaining, corporate bureaucracy and being told " We don't have the budget " get shoved aside and
amazing amounts of budget money are quickly found to appease the OSHA inspector overlords.
This comes with a risk, however.
The company may decide it's cheaper to make you drive 100+ miles a day to another location vs getting
the building you work in up to spec. We also know that retaliation is illegal, but once you get OSHA involved,
the company is likely going to look for ANY reason they can to fire you. So, understand the risks before
you do anything.
Still, it's your health, so don't give the company the benefit of the doubt if you've complained in the past and
nothing has been done to remedy the problem. You don't get to enjoy retirement if you're dead from some crazy
lung disease you picked up because your company tried to save a few bucks from the cleaning budget.