Fixing mold problems in on-campus dorms

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Fixing mold problems in on-campus dorms

By Meghan Foley

Published: Thursday, November 10, 2005

Article Tools: Page 1 of 2

Keene,NH

http://www.keeneequinox.com/media/paper537/news/2005/11/10/News/Fixin

g.Mold.Problems.In.OnCampus.Dorms-1051792.shtml

Media Credit: Meghan Duffy

A resident of Owl´s Nest 3 is shown in her bathroom where many of

her belongings were stored while her apartment was cleaned for mold.

The nightmare continued for students in the Owl's Nest 3 apartment

as physical plant staff tried to find out what was happening.

Handling a Health Issue

The process for filing a health complaint about a residence,

according to Jim Carley, associate director of Residential Life, is

the same as filing a maintenance request where the Residential Life

staff would be notified and they would notify the physical plant

staff.

Mazzola, director of the physical plant, said, " The first

group to investigate it would be the housekeeping department. They

would have the resources to neutralize a minor problem. "

" There was a lot of mold in one bedroom and by the emergency exit

door, " said senior Graham.

Nora Velazquez, lecturer for technology, design and safety and

former KSC environmental health and safety coordinator, said, " Any

complaint about residential facilities would go from Residential

Life to the physical plant, and eventually make the way to my

office. "

Velazquez said, she wrote " Indoor Air Quality " at the beginning of

2004 because indoor air quality concerns were common, and she

believed there needed to be a procedure for handling them. The

document is posted on the KSC website under Environmental Health and

Safety.

According to the document, " Concerns or complaints regarding comfort

(room is too hot or too cold, stuffy, unusual sudden odors) should

be directed to the Physical Plant Maintenance Desk. "

Green, supervisor for carpentry, paint and locks, said, " I

was called by Jim Carley that there was a problem there. The

information I got from him was that there was a student in that

apartment who was having trouble with reaction to mold. "

" I talked to my boss, Marc Doyon, about it. He had also been

contacted at that point. He informed me that Covino [Environmental

Associates Inc.] was coming to test in that room for mold. I went

down and just looked at the situation.The students were still living

there. Initially nobody quite knew what was going on, " said Green.

" There was a cleaning done, and immediately following that cleaning

it was indicated to us that the mold problem was more severe than

what we had experienced before, " said Mazzola. " We made a decision

to engage in an outside environmental hygienist (Covino), and they

have the ability to scientifically test for the presence of mold,

which they did. "

continued