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Allergies/mold questions at work

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Posted 12/29/2021 12:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

Alot of my coworkers have allergies, sneezing
one with a bad hoarse cough now ( not covid). Now I'm getting burning eyes. ***. If not mold, what else? We have a few other possible answers. Our department is old in the hospital Our heat has been breaking alot lately, I either too hot or too cold.I mentioned this to another worker and she said it's concerning. We have a 411 meeting tomorrow and both of us agreed to bring it up. Most of us don't have the option to work from home and can't leave. Im really paranoid. I have a follow up appt with my LLMD in 2 weeks.

Thanks
Posted 12/29/2021 7:30 PM (GMT 0)
What does the air smell like?

------------------------------------------------

Mold
1)For starters, mold can be hard to see obviously.

Its from any or all of these possibilities:

a)High inside ambient humidity
b)Building structural leaks from the outside leaking in from roof, wall, or foundation/floor
c)Inside plumbing leaks
d)Leaky or improperly operating heat ans AC system

You pretty much need to do your own visual detective work .

-------------------------------------------

2) other smells causing respiratory issues:
a)carpeting smells or air / germ cleaning chemicals
b)hard floor cleaning chemicals/germ killers - anything in that category has a possibility of being bothersome

(One commercial floor cleaner where I work at really bothers me, but not the other employees, "Pine -sol" is NASTY, strong stuff).
Posted 12/29/2021 7:35 PM (GMT 0)
No smell in our office. No leaks we know about.

Thinking dust as well as a strong possibility. Nobody ever wipes down anything much less desks/furniture, windows. We are short staffed with housekeepers unfortunately so very rarely is the department cleaned. Vacuuming forget it.
Posted 12/30/2021 1:57 AM (GMT 0)
Sunflower: I always get strong reactions when I get exposure to mold. I could probably tell you whether that's mold or not within 60 minutes of staying in that office ;-) I've been to places that had no bad smell, had no visible mold, yet it was problematic. Usually it turned out building had prior mold exposure which has been "remediated". That's when you won't see it but apparently it still has an effect on your health. Those not sensitive to it won't notice any strong negative effects.
Posted 12/30/2021 3:14 AM (GMT 0)
Not to scare you but could be something serious like a gas leaking, they need to have the air quality checked. It's very important for your safety.
Posted 12/30/2021 8:51 AM (GMT 0)
As a mold-sensitive person I also struggle with old dust, so there could be multiple reasons for the work environment to be unhealthy. Your performance drops a lot, so there shouldn’t be any reason to not fix the cleaning of the office.
Posted 12/30/2021 9:27 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you. Who knows anymore. I'm stressed beyond belief with worry. Sadly, the only time I'm happy and distracted is at work. Now terrified.
Posted 12/30/2021 10:55 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Sunflower,

If it were me I would put a vacuum cleaner in my car and some rags before I went to work and when my shift was over I would clean off everything and vacuum but that's me. Taking action makes me feel better. Of course I don't know if you are allowed to do that and you shouldn't have to but I would try it just to see if you felt any better after you were done cleaning.

If someone said something to me I would just answer "well then get housekeeping in here!"

It's unbelievable that a hospital won't keep their offices (rooms) clean. I would also go to the higher ups and tell them your office or work area is making you sick.

Hope you feel better,
Denise
Posted 12/30/2021 12:06 PM (GMT 0)
Unfortunately I had to take the day off so I'll be missing the 411 meeting.

But I will make this known next week (without being confrontational or looking like a hypercondriac). Trust me I am not the only one with these concerns. I'm going to even see if I can come in on a weekend and see if others want to join and really do a deep clean ( including vacuuming) Honestly, I don't mind doing that and someone even mentioned it once before . It sucks Denise I know. Maybe that will be a game changer for us though.

Due to covid we are short staffed in housekeeping as well as other departments. We were told to be patient with housekeeping and if we can step up. It's been like this for a few months....very angry about that. Apparently nobody wants to work anymore, but that's a whole other conversation I won't get into.
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