Guilford County Courthouse May Be Sick Building

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Courthouse May Be Sick Building

" I see them as the canary in the coal mine, " he said, " and if we don't listen,

people die. "

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-i-2009-07-09-197468.112113_Courthouse_\

May_Be_Sick_Building.html

RhinoTimes.com Greensboro - Greensboro,NC,USA

by D. Yost

County Editorwrite the authorJuly 09, 2009

Many workers in the Guilford County Courthouse in downtown Greensboro label the

courthouse a " sick building " and say they have health problems that have

resulted from poor air quality, mold and unsanitary ceiling tiles dampened by

roof leaks and cracked pipes – and they have many other complaints regarding the

condition of the building.

Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Kathleen O'Connell is one of the

most avid and outspoken court workers regarding the condition of the building,

and she's so concerned that she's assembled a documented trail of photographs,

results of mold tests that she's paid for herself, piles of notes and other

evidence that she said clearly shows the building is an unsafe work environment.

O'Connell has also been collecting data on the different types of illnesses that

have been showing up in employees who work in the courthouse.

It's nothing new for workers in that building to complain about the conditions

at the courthouse, but recent events such as the virtual collapse of some

ceilings, the need for makeshift hosing to drain fluid off HVAC units into

buckets in the middle of some rooms, and backed-up sewage that flooded the

Guilford County Register of Deeds office during a thunderstorm last month, have

brought the problems to the forefront.

O'Connell said she's collected information on the different ways the courthouse

is making people sick and said that – despite the fact many people had contacted

her regarding a request for information she sent out – there are also many

others who don't speak out because they don't want to be seen as complainers and

perhaps place their jobs in jeopardy.

" People have gotten sick regularly and everyone blames the building, " she said.

O'Connell, who works primarily in the District Attorney's Office on the fourth

floor of the courthouse, is no longer using her assigned office. Instead, she's

working out of a small conference room down the hall. She does that, she said,

because the air in the conference room is coming from a different and better

ventilation system than the one that provides air to her assigned office.

O'Connell has photos of the fourth floor law library as it was until last week

before repairs were finally made. The pictures show plastic sheeting under the

ceiling, which was catching the fluid from an HVAC system that was leaking

through the ceiling, and the fluid was being sent down a hose into a bucket.

There were instructions on the bucket for those in the law library to contact

the county when it had filled to a certain level. O'Connell also has a jar in

which she saved some of the brown liquid that had collected in that bucket.

One worker who uses that area frequently, who didn't want her name used, said

she'd developed frequent nosebleeds while working there.

" I got another nosebleed earlier today, " she said Tuesday, July 7.

The woman said the makeshift setup that collected runoff from the HVAC machine

had been in place at least since last Thanksgiving.

Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Tom Carruthers said that, though he

hadn't experienced health problems while working in the building, he'd seen

enough cases of those who are sensitive to mold, poor air quality and other

conditions to be convinced of the problem.

Carruthers said those sensitive to poor air quality and related contaminants are

the first ones to notice a problem, and he said what he's seen causes him

concern and said it should be a warning even to those in the courthouse who had

not developed symptoms. He said physically sensitive people should be considered

omens.

" I see them as the canary in the coal mine, " he said, " and if we don't listen,

people die. "

Carruthers said one problem with the courthouse air is that the courthouse in

Greensboro was never designed to hold as many people as it does. Now that it's

packed full of employees, he said, the building's environmental systems are

being pushed past the maximum and aren't capable of providing quality air to

everyone.

When it comes to county owned buildings, the courthouse is an anomaly because –

with a rare exception here and there – Guilford County's buildings are generally

filled with Guilford County employees. However, the courthouse in Greensboro,

like the one in High Point, is an example of a large building owned and

maintained by the county, but one that's filled with state employees such as

judges, public defenders, district attorneys and other judicial system

personnel.

And there's a feeling among some courthouse employees that the county doesn't

put in the necessary money, time and effort to keep the courthouse up properly

because it's filled primarily with non-county employees.

In 2005, a study conducted by Workplace Group, a division of the NC

Administrative Office of the Court, found there were problems with the building

and those complaints were addressed.

One complaint that helped prompt that 2005 study, stated, " Indoor air quality is

very poor throughout the UG level, 2nd floor, and 4th floor of the courthouse.

There are serious moisture problems on the UG level. Mold and mildew are present

on some of the walls and ceilings throughout the floors. The HVAC vents are

filthy and need regular maintenance. The building may be recirculating 100

percent stale air. "

The complaint went on to list health problems experienced by some employees in

the building.

At that time, HVAC units and ducts were scrubbed clean and other concerns were

addressed and, on March 21, 2005, , a district supervisor for the

NC Department of Labor, sent a letter to Guilford County Facilities Director

Fred .

" OSHNC [Occupational Safety and Health of North Carolina] now feels the case can

be closed on the grounds that the alleged hazardous conditions have been

corrected or no longer exist. "

But, for courthouse workers, the case remained far from closed. They cite a

multitude of deep-rooted environmental problems with the building that exist to

this day.

O'Connell said she's suspicious of those 2005 findings, which is one reason

she's now conducting her own tests.

As a result of recent renewed complaints of mold and other issues, another air

quality study was conducted last month and the county expects to get the results

of those tests sometime in mid-July.

said he'd heard that the preliminarily results for that study state that

some mold was discovered in some courthouse HVAC systems, but that none of it

was airborne.

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