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Published April 20, 2009
More hidden hazards
at BOE building?
Independent study: extent of mold
unknown
An independent report
confirms the serious health and safety problems caused by mold,
water leaks and “latent construction defects” at the Board of
Equalization (BOE) headquarters in
Sacramento.
The new report by the
Lacroix Davis consulting firm outlines the potential hazards
caused by mold throughout the building and notes that because of
construction defects there may be mold inside many interior
walls in the high-rise, especially near elevator shafts.
Total staff relocation
“We need to move every single person out of the building, then
go through the building with a fine tooth comb to find
everything that causes the mold and water leaks and fix these
problems once and for all,” said BOE employee Bobbi Smith, a
Local 1000 leader who testified after the DGS presentation.
“This report raises more questions than it answers. No one is
sure what is causing this mold.”
Department of General
Services (DGS) officials who presented the report at the April
15 BOE Board meeting stopped short of recommending that all BOE
employees should be relocated until all the health safety
hazards were removed – a stand which perplexed board members and
angered Local 1000 BOE workers.
“We can’t be moving people around while the building is still
being fixed,” Smith said. “It’s not safe, and we will never
really be sure that the mold problem is gone for good.” Deanna
Payne, a 29-year BOE employee, testified that when her work
station was moved near an interior wall ventilation duct in
2007, she immediately began experiencing coughing, sinus
congestion and other flulike symptoms.
“At first my doctors
and I thought it was just a very bad cold that wouldn’t go
away,” she said. “But we began to notice that the symptoms
improved when I wasn’t working. My doctor concluded that it must
be related to mold at the office.” She now works from home 50
percent of her time, and her office at BOE headquarters is on a
different floor.
“No one should be
afraid of going in to work,” she said. “Your office should not
be a health hazard.”
Do you work at the 450 N Street BOE building in Sacramento?
Take the BOE building survey below:
ONLINE SURVEY
PDF Version
All paper surveys should be
returned to Bobbi Smith at MIC: 95
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