Full Length Research Paper

Health and safety conditions of building maintenance sites in Nigeria: Evaluating the post occupancy contaminations of timber buildings by microorganisms

I. H. Mshelgaru¹* and O. S. Olonitola²

¹Department of Building, Faculty of Environmental Design, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria - Nigeria.

²Department of Microbiology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria - Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: hassangaru468@gmail.com, mshelgaruisa@yahoo.com.  Tel.: +234 69 876540, +234 803 4512 589.

Accepted 16 December 2009

Abstract

This research assessed the safety of the environmental conditions of timber buildings as maintenance sites from cultivable microorganisms under various climatic conditions in Nigeria. Several site illnesses leading to poor work and reduced productivity on construction sites have been attributed to unidentified microorganisms or their metabolites. To identify the microorganisms, bulk samples were collected on timber buildings classified as maintenance sites over the country and then identify the microorganisms available using the  cultivation technique. Eight hundred and fifty nutrient and Sabouraud dextrose agar dishes were prepared. The nutrient agar dishes were incubated for 24 h at 35°C whereas those of Sabouraud dextrose agar were incubated for 72 h at 30°C. Biochemical tests were used to classify the bacteria while fungi were identified via visual and microscopic observations. The sites were highly contaminated with Enterobacter agglomerons, Serratia liquefaciens, Enterobacter hafniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and other species of Enterobacter, Serratia, Klebsiela, Bacillus, and Micrococcus. And among fungi species were; Penicilium, Mucor, Geotrichum, Alternaria, Trichoderma, Rhizopus, Paecilomyces, Gliocladium, Aspergillus, Syncephalastrum, Acrosporium, Mycelia sterilia, Cladosporium, Trichothecium, Chrysonilia and Saccharomyces. Sixty four percent of construction workers experienced symptoms of sick building syndrome while on maintenance site. The most contaminated region is the rain forest.

Key words: Microorganisms, prevalence, sick-building-syndrome, contamination,  productivity.