How Employers and
Commercial Landlords Can Maintain a Mold-Safe Workplace
February 7, 2005 — By Phillip
Fry
VANCOUVER, CANADA. Exposure
to workplace mold infestation can cause serious health problems for
employees,
customers, and visitors, according to DangerBusters,
a worldwide environmental inspection, testing, remediation, and training
firm.
Employers,
commercial landlords, and employees in Canada, the USA, and worldwide
should suspect a mold health threat if any
of these three mold warnings occur in the
workplace---
(1) Visible mold
growth appears on or in ceilings, walls, floors, heating/cooling ducts and
registers, attic, basement/crawl space,
and/or on furniture, equipment, and inventory
of raw materials or finished products.
(2) Workers or customers
report experiencing any of the most common, possible mold health symptoms:
allergies, asthma,
bleeding lungs, breathing difficulties, central nervous system problems,
recurring colds, coughing (chronic), coughing up blood,
dandruff problems (chronic) that don't go away despite use of
anti-dandruff shampoos, dermatitis, skin rashes, diarrhea, and/or:
Eye and vision
problems, fatigue (chronic, excessive, or continued) and/or general
malaise, flu symptoms (chronic), sudden hair
loss, headaches, hemorrhagic pneumonitis,
hives, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, irritability, itching (of the nose,
mouth, eyes, throat,
skin, or any other area), kidney failure, learning difficulties or mental
functioning problems or personality changes, memory loss or
memory difficulties, and/or:
Open skin sores and
lacerations, peripheral nervous system effects, redness of the sclera
(white of your eyes), runny nose
(rhinitis) or thick, green slime coming out of nose (from sinus cavities),
seizures, sinus congestion, sinus problems, and chronic
sinusitis, skin redness, sleep disorders, sneezing fits, sore throat,
tremors (shaking), verbal dysfunction (trouble in speaking),
vertigo (feelings of dizziness, lightheadedness, faintness, and
unsteadiness), and vomiting.
People differ
significantly in their sensitivity and reaction to mold exposure.
Consequently, there are no federal standards or
recommendations, (e.g., OSHA, NIOSH, and EPA) for airborne concentrations
of mold or mold spores in the workplace. Even
the smell of mold can make some workers sick.
Thus, if only one or a few
workers or customers experience one or more possible mold health symptoms,
the employer or
landlord should still inspect and mold test the work premises for the
health protection of both the mold-sensitive employees and
others who may ultimately be harmed from time-cumulative mold
exposure.
3) Workplace mold
inspection and testing discover elevated levels of indoor mold in the air,
on visible surfaces, or hidden inside
walls, ceilings, floors, the heating/cooling
equipment and ducts, the attic, or the basement/crawl space.
"All molds have the
potential to cause health effects. Molds can produce allergens that can
trigger allergic reactions or even
asthma attacks in people allergic to mold. Others are known to produce
potent toxins and/or irritants,” according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.).
As to asthma, a health
study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health links adult-onset
asthma to workplace mold
exposure. “The present (health study) results provide new evidence of the
relation between workplace exposure to indoor molds
and development of asthma in adulthood. Our findings suggest that indoor
mold problems constitute an important occupational
health hazard.”
The Finnish
workplace mold study estimated that the percentage of adult-onset asthma
attributable to workplace mold exposure
to be 35%. (Reported in Environmental Health
Perspectives, May, 2002)
Furthermore, a
number of commonly found indoor mold species are, in fact, toxic mold, a
description applied to any mold that
produces mycotoxins in its spores. Stachybotrys ("black mold"),
Aspergillus, and Penicillium are three of the most dangerous
indoor toxic molds.
Mycotoxins are cytoxic,
meaning they have the capacity to pass through the human cellular wall and
disrupt certain cellular
processes---potentially causing serious
health damage to workers and customers.
What should employees do?
”If you see or smell mold, or if you or others are experiencing
mold-related symptoms, report it so
the problem can be investigated. You may need to tell your employer,
supervisor, health and safety officer, union representative,
or school board. Find out whether co-workers are experiencing any
[mold-related] symptoms,” recommends the California
Department of Health Services.
What should companies and
property managers do for mold prevention, maintenance, and remediation?
Step 1 is to conduct
periodic and thorough physical inspections of the workplace for evidence
of water and mold problems---whether visible or
hidden.
For effective mold
inspection and testing, the employer or property owner should hire a
certified mold inspector, environmental
hygienist, or industrial hygienist.
Alternatively and less expensive, utilize mold test kits for all-around
mold testing.
The inspector or hygienist
will collect samples of all visible mold growths, mold test the air of
each room and area of the
employer’s facility, and obtain mold laboratory analysis and mold species
identification and quantification of the collected mold
and air samples.
The most common
mold-causing water problems are roof leaks, siding leaks, plumbing line
leaks, sewer line breaks, a wet crawl
space or basement, flooding, and high humidity. Finding and fixing the
underlying water problem are always required for
successful mold remediation.
For step 2, follow the U.S.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommendation that
the employer and the
building owner should notify workers in the
affected area (s) of the presence of mold in their workplace.
Notification should
include a description of the proposed remedial measures and a timetable
for completion. Group meetings held
before and after remediation with full
disclosure of plans and results can be an effective communication
mechanism.
Individuals with
persistent health problems that might be related to mold exposure should
be encouraged to visit their physicians
for a referral to practitioners who are trained in
occupational/environmental medicine or related specialties and are
knowledgeable
about medical mold diagnostic and treatment
procedures.
Step 3 is for the employer
or landlord to do safe and effective mold killing, mold removal, and mold
remediation of all mold
growths and of all airborne and surface-deposited mold spores. After the
completion of mold remediation, the workplace needs
to pass “clearance tests” to be safe for employees and customers.
For more information about
mold prevention, inspection, testing, and remediation techniques, please
visit---
http://www.moldinspector.com
http://www.certifiedmoldinspectors.com
http://www.mold.ph
http://www.envirosurf.com
http://www.epa.gov
http://www.osha.gov
Contact: Phillip Fry, author
Phone: 011-63-906-510-4000
Email:
envirodangers@yahoo.com
Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Solutions
Phil can help you fix your own property’s mold
problems at low-cost, more safely, and better-in- results than what is
done by many mold inspectors and mold contractors. How can Phil
help you?
1. Read Phil’s five plain-English,
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inspection, testing, removal, remediation, and prevention for your house,
condo, apartment, office, or workplace.
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3. Get FREE mold advice, mold help, and/or answers
to your mold questions, by emailing mold expert Phillip Fry at
envirodangers@yahoo.com.
You can also email pictures of your mold problems in
jpeg file format as email attachments.
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