Mold shuts portion of a state high-rise

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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.