Re: Mold shuts portion of a state high-rise

[Guest guest]

I work in this department and management has been denying that

anything is wrong for years. I've been here since 2001 and they have

always had a flooding issue in the building. We've had to deal with

water cascading down the walls, mold on pillars that are located in

cubicles, dripping ceilings to where they had to place drip tubes

down into garbage cans to catch the excess water. This has been going

on since I started and all the employees have stated that it's been

going on further than that, way into the 90's when the building was

built. Now, management has decided to " find " mold while they were

painting is BS to say the least, since they didn't rip into the walls

until staff contacted a lawyer about this.

Bev

Sacramento, CA

--- In , " tigerpaw2c " <tigerpaw2c@...>

wrote:

>

> Mold shuts portion of a state high-rise

> Board of Equalization workers say building has made them ill.

> Sacramento Bee - CA*

> By Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writer

> Wednesday, October 3, 2007

>

> http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/411918.html

>

>

> The state Board of Equalization has moved employees from two floors

> of its downtown high-rise headquarters after finding " a variety of

> molds " growing in the walls.

>

[Guest guest]

What really irritates me about this story is that state employees have

access to excellent levels of health care. Especially here in the Sacramento

area. What in heck do the medical professionals who have seen these

claimants have to say about this? 25,000 employees and maybe half that many

more retirees in the area is a good sized chunk of change for the medical

field in the area. My worst fear is that some people just might skirt the

issue and come with tepid or worse yet, no diagnosis as to cause just

because of who's paying the bills. Mold is here, but that doesn't mean we

have to live with it. Government buildings aren't immune to mold, in fact

they seem to welcome it. I hope this doesn't become another Bateson

Building. Biff Byrum (A mold survivor.)

[] Mold shuts portion of a state high-rise

> Mold shuts portion of a state high-rise

> Board of Equalization workers say building has made them ill.

> Sacramento Bee - CA*

> By Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writer

> Wednesday, October 3, 2007

>

> http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/411918.html

>

> The state Board of Equalization has moved employees from two floors of its

> downtown high-rise headquarters after finding " a variety of molds " growing

> in the walls.

>

> A memo sent to BOE staff members Monday said the 22nd and 23rd floors of

> the 24-story building at 450 N St. are off-limits to everyone but

> construction workers.

>

> Beth Mills, a spokeswoman for the state Department of General Services,

> said the mold found last week between two layers of gypsum wallboard

> includes Stachybotrys chartarum, the " black mold " that has been the

> subject of numerous legal claims and reports of illness nationwide.

>

> BOE says they cleared the two floors because they discovered the mold

> during repainting. But an attorney pointed out that the move came less

> than two weeks after he filed claims on behalf of four BOE employees who

> say that they've been sickened by working in the building, and that BOE

> management has covered up problems stemming from extensive water leakage

> into the high-rise.

>

> If the state denies the claims, the workers intend to file lawsuits

> against the state, said the lawyer, .

>

> said he had been contacted by dozens of BOE employees, some of whom

> have taken leaves of absence or are telecommuting because of respiratory

> and other health problems that they blame on their workplace.

>

> Board of Equalization spokeswoman Anita Gore, who was moving from her 23rd

> floor office Tuesday, said the building is safe for workers.

>

> " We have had this building's air tested and tested for mold spores, and

> the air quality has tested normal, " she said.

>

> But Landeros, one of the employees who filed a claim, said the

> environment in the building has been less than ideal for years. She has

> spent 14 years working on the top few floors of the BOE headquarters, most

> recently on the 23rd floor.

>

> " Since the opening of the building (in 1993), we've always had water

> intrusion, " said Landeros, an appeals analyst. " We've had waterfalls.

> We've actually named waterfalls for attorneys whose offices were nearby.

> I've had to experience ceiling tiles falling on my desk. That was in the

> '90s. When I was pregnant, there was mold growing on the pillar near my

> desk. "

>

> Landeros complains of headaches, mysterious rashes, fatigue and blisters

> on her head. She said other workers have suffered similar symptoms. About

> two weeks ago she was moved to the 20th floor.

>

> Science has not established a direct link between mold and specific

> illnesses. But Sandy McNeel, a research scientist with state Department of

> Public Health, said researchers agree that molds produce indoor allergens

> that cause reactions in some people.

>

> Mold isn't the only danger lurking in wet buildings, McNeel continued.

> Bacteria grow faster in damp environments, and so do dust mites.

>

> " The scientific evidence is stronger at this point that chronically damp

> buildings are more a problem for people than specifically mold, " she said.

> " Mold can be a canary in a coal mine that indicates there's something

> wrong with this building, or this room. "

>

> Opened in 1993, the BOE building is essentially a wall of more than 6,000

> windows set in pre-cast concrete. Between 1999 and 2005, seven large panes

> of window glass failed, some sending shards of glass crashing to the

> street below. A state report blamed premature window gasket failure, which

> caused the windows to fail and water to leak into the building.

>

> The state has since spent about $12 million to fix the windows. Temporary

> scaffolding that protected passers-by has been removed.

>

> Gore said the state Department of General Services was just finishing

> repairs to the windows when the mold was discovered. It was growing

> between layers of gypsum wallboard near a balcony that had problems with

> leaking.

>

> Crews had pushed back the modular furniture so they could repaint the

> walls, she said. That's when they spotted discoloration on the walls. Mold

> was found growing inside.

>

> " As a precaution we've moved everyone in the affected area out of their

> workspace, " she said.

>

> Gore said between 100 and 120 people, including legal staff members and

> department executives, have been relocated from the 22nd and 23rd floors

> to other parts of the building. About 2,200 people work in the building.

>

> The BOE headquarters was built by the California Public Employees'

> Retirement System as a profit-making investment for its portfolio. It

> debuted on the skyline at the same time as the similarly sized Wells Fargo

> Center nearby, but cost only about half as much -- $79.4 million.

>

> At the time, Sacramento city officials complained about its design and

> bemoaned the fact that the state was exempt from the city's design

> standards.

>

> CalPERS later sold the building to the state Department of General

> Services, which acts as the landlord for state departments. DGS

> spokeswoman Mills said it should take about four weeks to replace the

> moldy gypsum wallboard and bring the displaced workers back.

>

> The Bee's Lynne Vellinga can be reached at (916) 321-1094 or

> mlvellinga@ sacbee.com.

[Guest guest]

The government doesnt help. I got sick from mold in a government building and

akll they did was get rid of me and cover it up.

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[Guest guest]

JUST LIKE HERE, JANET........ITS SICKENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONLY THEY DIDN'T GET

RID OF ME......I WAS FAR TOO SICK, TO EVERRRRRRRRRRRR RETURN TO

WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :>(

V.

Re: [] Mold shuts portion of a state high-rise

The government doesnt help. I got sick from mold in a government building and

akll they did was get rid of me and cover it up.

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See what's new at http://www.aol.com