152 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



Ventilation of office buildings 



The point that the Department of Health wishes to make before this 

 Commission is that it is detrimental to health to have an unlimited height 

 of office buildings, and to have large buildings in close proximity to each 

 Other, not only on account of the lighting problem but also as regards the 

 free access of air, unless artificial, mechanical ventilation is used. As a 

 matter of fact when I was in one of the most advanced sanitary bank build- 

 ings that I could find in that district, I found forced ventilation employed 

 only on the first and second floors. Most of the building was provided with 

 natural ventilation. People in these office buildings often do not use natural 

 ventilation on account of the fact that they complain of suffering from 

 colds and draughts. Failure to use natural ventilation is particularly notice- 

 able where air shafts exist. 



Floor space per office employee 



The number of square feet of floor space per employee in this block was 

 as follows : 



From 5 to 50 square feet per person 26 C V 



From 51 to 71 square feet per person 22 % 



From 76 to 100 square feet per person 24 



From 101 to 150 square feet per person 16% 



From 151 to 200 square feet per person 8' , 



Over 200 square feet. 



Need for districting 



Not only do I think it advisable, but I think it is a question of actual 

 necessity as regards the enforcement of the public health laws in the City 

 of Xew York, that restrictions of the character proposed by this Commis- 

 sion should be enacted and clearly defined. 



High morbidity rate in offices 



I find a more than normal per cent of case incidence in office workers 

 who are confined to poorly ventilated and ill lighted offices. The case 

 incidence in Xew York of disease we roughly estimate to be 2.82 per cent, 

 that is from all diseases. In some of our office buildings downtown I 

 found, in going over the investigations made, case incidences running up as 

 high as 9.68 per cent which would indicate something which was not normal 

 compared with the rest of the city. 



Tuberculosis has been particularly prevalent in the office buildings. 

 Eye strain and diseases of the nose and throat, catarrh, colds, etc., are also 

 very prevalent. Absence due to sickness runs from .32 per cent to as high 

 as 9.68 per cent — it varies between these figures. 



Humidity of office buildings 



In offices we find low humidity — very low humidity as compared with 

 the outside — sometimes a change of 40 per cent from the atmospheric 

 humidity. There is a very marked difference in the humidity in rooms 

 inhabited by one person or in which one person is continuously working 

 and one where a number of persons work. The humidity increases in direct 

 proportion to the number of people in the room. 



Humidity, ordinarily speaking, is not of importance from the point of 

 view of health until we have high temperature linked with humidity, and 

 then the question of ventilation becomes very important. Reduction of the 

 temperature on the surface of the body naturally is important. I think 



