The health impacts of sick building syndrome on Sekolah Pondok users in Baling, Kedah / Nur Aqilah Mohd Noor and Mohd Esham Mamat

Sick building syndrome is the symptoms that are experienced by occupants due to indoor environmental problems in the building. There is a high risk of being infected for the occupants who stay inside the building for a long period of time. Sekolah pondok is a religious school that spreads the knowledge of Islam to community. It is the earliest Islam education centre founded in Malaysia. However, previous researchers revealed that sekolah pondok is lack of maintenance, do not follow the building specifications which increases the risk of Sick Building Syndrome and educational institution has received less attention to be as a research topic especially in Malaysia. This paper aims to investigate the health impacts that are caused from Sick Building Syndrome on sekolah pondok users in Baling, Kedah. The obejctives are to identify the factors causing SBS at sekolah pondok, to investigate the health impacts of SBS on the users of sekolah pondok and to propose possible solutions that can prevent or reduce SBS at sekolah pondok. Questionnaires be distributed to the users of sekolah pondok which are teachers and management staff in Baling, Kedah. The research finding revealed that poor and irregular maintenance as the main factor that cause Sick Building Syndrome at sekolah pondok. On the other hand, general symptoms as the major health impact of Sick Building Syndrome to the users of sekolah pondok. Besides, periodic, and good maintenance is the most agreed solution that be selected by the respondents to reduce or prevent Sick Building Syndrome at sekolah pondok.