The quality of indoor air has been a hot topic in the safety and health field for years. Back in 1989, a report estimated between 800,000 and 1.2 million commercial buildings in the U.S. have problems that could be classified as sick building syndrome, potentially affecting 30 to 70 million occupants. Throughout the 1980s, NIOSH investigated hundreds of indoor air complaints. In 1991, OSHA formally began to consider a possible standard (prompted in part by pressure for a workplace smoking ban), and in 1994 it proposed a rule.
OSHA chief Joe Dear called the proposal one of the most extensive rules ever issued by the agency. Its environmental tobacco smoke provisions covered more than six million workplaces, and indoor air requirements applied to 4.5 million non-industrial worksites, including offices, training centers, commercial facilities, cafeterias, and factory break rooms.