Sick Building Syndrome on ABC News

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Preventing Allergies at Work Takes a Multi-Pronged Approach

Sneezing, Itching, Watering and Aching With Frustration From Allergies at Work

By RADHA CHITALE

ABC News Medical Unit

Sept. 3, 2008—

About once a month, DeFlorimonte had to change a ceiling panel in one

corner of her office at work, encrusted as it was with black mold. This pattern

continued for seven years, over the course of which DeFlorimonte, 60, suffered

from a barrage of respiratory problems.

" It was hell living through it, " DeFlorimonte said. " I was at the doctor's

office every few months, " constantly sneezing, coughing, and experiencing

respiratory infections, she said.

Her mold allergies, and the medications she took to relieve them, made

DeFlorimonte, a reading specialist at a land grade school, miserable -- and

less productive.

But many go through the work day under similar duress, enduring allergies and

allergy-like symptoms caused by their work environment.

" Allergies in the workplace is a bigger issue than a lot of employers give

credit for, " said Mike Tringale, director of External Affairs at the Asthma and

Allergy Foundation of America. " Many employers have not stepped up to that

plate. "

While prevention may be difficult, or in some cases impossible, there are a few

proactive things one can do in order to make the itchy, watery, fatigue-causing

symptoms less problematic.

The Root of the Problem

Diagnosing an allergy or a sensitivity can help determine what the problem is

and where it might be coming from. DeFlorimonte's doctor diagnosed her with a

severe mold allergy, one that did not bother her when she took time away from

the office.

But often symptoms are non-specific and can include irritation in the air and

nasal passages, burning eyes, headaches and fatigue. If these types of symptoms

come on after an hour in the workplace and resolve within an hour after leaving,

the office environment itself may be to blame, according Dr. Karin Pacheco, an

occupational medicine specialist at the National Jewish Medical and Research

Center in Denver, Colorado.

The two elements that can wreak havoc on buildings and sicken employees are

water and air. Dampness, from leaks or condensation, creates ideal conditions

for irritants like mold. Poor ventilation and filtration means the air stagnates

and can contain higher concentrations of those mold spores or other irritants.

In most cases, doctors recommend bringing the problem up with a manager or

supervisor, as well as the building's health and safety officer, if there is

one, in order to attack the problems at their root.

Solutions could include fixing leaks and plumbing problems and replacing old,

moldy carpet and furniture, which can also have dust mites in them, another

common indoor allergen. Better ventilation and filtration systems can help

refresh the air and clear it of irritants.

" The only solution is getting that underlying exposure cleared up, " said Dr.

Sublett, section chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at the

University of Louisville School of Medicine in Louisville, Ky. " You can't just

clean it up and not fix the underlying problem. "

Although repairing and maintaining the infrastructure of a work environment in

order to keep it up to snuff can be very expensive, " more and more people are

seeing the economic arguments for doing so, " said Andy Persily, vice president

of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning

Engineers.

" The most expensive thing in the building is not the energy, it's the salaries

of the people, " Persily pointed out. And unproductive employees can cost a

company far more than a leaky roof.

Sometimes fragrances or chemicals from new furniture or cleaning supplies may be

to blame for those nonspecific symptoms, Pacheco said. In these cases, an

employee might propose implementing a fragrance-free office environment, with

help from management.

Allergy Detectives

Occasionally, a work allergy has an easy fix. Sublett recalled a patient of his

who came to him reporting terrible allergic symptoms and he discovered she was

allergic to cats. It turned out that her cubby-mate at work had three cats and

was exposing her co-worker to those allergens.

" As allergists, we're environmental detectives, " Sublett said. What the patient

says, the clinical diagnosis and environmental evaluation can all help to

connect the dots.

The phenomenon where people are only ill inside a particular building is often

nebulously dubbed Sick Building Syndrome or Building Related Illness because of

the location-specific but non-specific symptoms. These names and the number of

scenarios to which they can be applied underscore Pacheco's point that this

problem is difficult to identify, diagnose, and treat.

For any affliction of this type, management support and attention to detail is

crucial. Without care, the underlying cause may never be corrected, as happened

to DeFlorimonte.

" I didn't feel they were doing all they could, " DeFlorimonte said of the

administration at her school. Though she brought up her mold allergy and its

resulting symptoms with the principal and vice principal often, they only went

as far as changing the ceiling panels without fixing the building leaks.

" It was putting a band-aid on the problem, " she said

After seven years of her mold-infested work environment, DeFlorimonte took a

year-long sabbatical to get some rest and work on other projects. Her

respiratory problems cleared up right away.

" It was dramatic, it was a dramatic change, " she said. The feeling was such a

revelation, Deflorimonte decided not to return to her old job and began working

at another school in land.

" I've been fine, " she said. " I haven't even had a cold. "

DeFlorimonte's decision to quit her job represents one extreme solution for

allergy sufferers at work.

Unfortunately, as Pacheco pointed out, work-related allergies may not lend

themselves to too much self help. Using facemasks, fans or applying hand

sanitizer are not effective ways to combat the irritating symptoms because they

don't tackle the source of the problem.

" People need a higher level of awareness and an interest in doing it right, "

Persily said.