Mold Infestation after a Basement Floods or
Flooded Basement from a Water Leak
Q.
I work in long term health care
facility, that has a basement. When it rains the basement is
flooded with at least 2-10 inches of water. This basement was once
the facility laundry area, and at times when it floods there is
human waste that also surfaces. The staff, including myself, and
a lot of the patients that reside there are sick, with continual
upper respiratory infections, chronic coughs, sinus infections, MRSA, and we have had so many nurses, like myself out sick with
upper respiratory infections. One nurse diagnosed with Lupus,
several with asthma, acute and chronic bronchitis, etc. One nurse
has been diagnosed with a lung disease in which she has some type
of lung tissue nodules growing in her lungs, and has now resigned.
One nurse worked at this facility for about a month, and had to
quit due to constant lung infections. I have been sick now for
going on 2 years, with chronic bronchitis, been recently diagnosed
with emphysema, asthma, and stay sick with sinus infections. You
can smell the mold in this building. There was so much mold
growing inside a small housekeeping closet, it had spread up the
walls, on the ceiling, and the odor was and still is
overwhelming. They just painted over the walls. The basement
floods every time it rains, and we have noticed an increase in
upper respiratory infections following a rain, or when the
basement is flooded. The plumbing runs in the ceiling, and the
roof leaks, the insulation gets soaked, and leaks thru the
ceiling. There are several areas that leak, the ceiling has
cracked, and most of the plumbing pipes also run along the
ceiling, which burst, and leak into the halls, down the walls. I
have observed this, and usually call our maintenance man in to
stop the leaks. The residual is my concern...we are all getting
sick. My patients are sick. Diagnosed with pneumonia, they have
rashes, nose bleeds, and chronic coughs...Please advise on what I
can do as one person to drawl some attention to this concern. We
all have complained to deaf ears of upper management, to no
avail...I honestly feel we are in a toxic environment, and have no
resources to have it checked out, as well as maintain our much
needed jobs. Please advise, or maybe you could give me some other
options to have SOMEONE follow up.
[May 22, 2003]
A.
Your email doesn't mention what attempts you have made to get the
facility administrator or owner to test for mold infestation in
both the basement and throughout the facility, including heating
or air conditioning ducts. If company management or owner won't do
professional mold inspection and testing, you ought to consider testing the basement and other
workplace areas
yourself using do it yourself mold test kits available from a
large hardware, home improvement, or safety store with expert mold
lab analysis and mold species identification. Thus, you need to be the SOMEONE who
follows up on the problem. You have the power to take action. When
you get the mold lab results back, if the reports document a
serious mold infestation problem, give a copy to the administrator
or owner and ask him or her to take action. If they won't,
consider hiring an environmental attorney to represent your legal
rights against your employer. Also consider complaining to your
local health department and the U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration [OSHA]. To find an environmental attorney,
visit:
Toxic Black Mold Lawyer.
Please note that it illegal for an employer to fire an employee
who reports safety and health violations to the health department or OSHA.
If you are ever fired for being concerned about your environmental health
in the workplace and taking action to test and to report environmental
problems, you could win a large financial judgment against because of such
wrongful job termination.
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