Office workers

The links between levels of exposure and inconvenience caused by ventilation noise are described in an investigation carried out on office workers.- Technical measurements and analyses of the ventilation noise at 155 typical office workplaces were in this study combined with assessments by the office workers of the level of disturbance that they experienced, the effect on working performance, fatigue, stress-related pain, and headaches. The average noise level was about 40 dB(A) at two of the workplaces, while it was about 35 dB(A) at two others. It emerged from rhe narrow-band analyses that the sound pressure levels of rhe infrasound were not in any event of an order that this type of sound frequencies (below 20 Hz) could contribute to any disturbance effects. Any steps taken to counter the sound frequencies of the ventilation noise under 50 Hz, i.e., the point of btersection between the threshold curve of auditory perception and the spectral level distribution curve of... 

The office workers involved in the study mentioned above rated the ventilation noise as somewhat disturbing to quite disturbing at the two workplaces where the level of exposure was about 40 dB(A). At the two workplaces... 

The range of answers to the question, How does ventilation noise affect your ability to perform your tasks reveals that about one in every five office workers on average felt that ventilation noise made their work more difficult. A significantly greater number assessed the higher level at 40 dB(A) as an aggravating factor in the performance of their tasks at the office. About 20% considered that the higher level made their work somewhat or much more difficult. About 10% made a similar assessment at the noise level of 35 dB(A). 

Mendell, M. J. (1993). Non-specific Health Symptoms in Office Workers a Review and Summary of the... 

Fraser, H. S., Mucklow, J. C. et al. (1979). Environmental factors affecting antipyrine metabolism in London factory and office workers. Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol., 7(3), 237-43. 

Nicolas Leblanc was born on December 6, 1742, in a village near Bourges in central France. His father, a low-level office worker in an iron forge, died when Nicolas was 9 years old. A surgeon friend of his father s educated the boy but when the surgeon also died, 17-year-old Nicolas was on his own. 

Budnick L, Young H, Chang V, et al. 1986. Blood lead levels among office workers—New York City. MMWR 35 298-300. 

Automation of today s laboratory should no longer be viewed simply as instrument automation. The modern scientist is an office worker as well as a technical worker and must be given the computer tools to allow the integration of the total laboratory task. The yields to the companies which recognize this will be significant Improvements in both the efficiency and effectiveness of their research function. 

More and more office workers telecommute from offices in their own homes. The upside of telecommuting is both greater productivity and greater flexibility. Telecommuters produce, on average, 20% more than if they were to work in an office, and their flexible schedule allows them to balance both their family and work responsibilities. 

Chan C, Liu S, Her G. 1994. Office workers exposure to volatile organic compounds while commuting and working in Taipei City. Atmos Environ 28(14) 2351-2359. 

Ocular Effects. A case-control study of office workers was conducted by Baj et al. (1994) to evaluate the risks of chronic exposures to inhaled formaldehyde, phenol and isomers of organic chlorohydrocarbons from Ksylamit which is a widely used liquid wood preservative reported to consist of a mixture of chlorinated benzenes, pentachlorophenol, alpha-chloronaphthalene, chloroparafifin, and kerosene . Twenty-two workers (18 women and 4 men) exposed for at least 6 months were the cases, and 29 non-exposed, non-smoking volunteers matched for age, sex, and place of residence were the controls. The authors indicate that all of the exposed workers developed chronic complaints, among them burning eyes, but that no remarkable increase in morbidity was found during the 6 months of exposure to Ksylamit , nor during the 3-year follow-up study (details of which were not provided). The authors attribute these symptoms to the irritant effect of the inhaled Ksylamit probably (based on the references provided) due to the formaldehyde vapor they assert emanates from the woodpreserving liquid. 

There s still a part of me that wishes I wouldn t have to take them for the rest of my life, but you know, I will have to take them for the rest of my life and that s fine with me, (retired female office worker, aged 56)... 

It s not happening. You know, the pills take me away from me, they do something else. The lithium sort of organizes me, the Wellbutrin lifts me up, the Benadryl puts me down. But it s not me. (female office worker, aged 60)... 

The Problem The 17 office workers and 4 managers at Super Mart all need new file cabinets before the end of this month, which has 31 days. The file cabinets cost 300 each, and the supplier of file cabinets will haul away the old cabinets for 5 each. How much will it cost to replace the file cabinets if each of the office workers takes his old file cabinet home and each of the managers elects to have them hauled away ... 

If you can t stand to let a problem go unanswered and you want to solve this one, the answer is 6,320. You figure out how much money it costs by determining how much was spent on each office worker and then adding the total to how much the managers spent. Each of the 17 office workers spent just 300 (just the cost of the cabinets), so 17 x 300 = 5,100. The managers had their file cabinets hauled away, which added 5 on to the cost. The total for each manager is 305, so 4 x 305 = 1,220. Add the amounts together, and the cost of the file cabinets for the entire office is 5,100 + 1,220 = 6,320. 

BDE-47, -153, -154, -183, and -209 were measurable in blood plasma Ifom three groups of workers (i.e., workers at a computer disassembly plant, workers in a computerized office, and a control group) (Sjddin et al. 1999b). The median concentrations (sum of five congeners) were highest for the computer disassembly plant workers (26 ng/g lipid weight) the office workers had a median concentration of... 

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