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This document is also available as a PDF. SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
ASTHMA PATIENTS URGED TO LEAVE
MOLDY COURTHOUSE: COUNTY
OFFICIAL SAYS AFFLICTED WORKERS
WILL BE TRANSFERRED.
DATE: Friday, May 14, 1999
Section: SECTION: Local
Page: 1B
BY TRACEY KAPLAN, Mercury News Staff Writer
Illustration: Photo Caption: PHOTO: MERCURY NEWS FILE PHOTOGRAPH
The county plans to close the $7.5 million San Martin Courthouse by August
because of the mold.
[990514 LO 2B] An expert hired by Santa Clara County recommended more than a week ago
that employees with asthma be immediately moved out of the mold-infested
San Martin Courthouse. But until Thursday, six employees who say they have
asthma were still there. ''They're ignoring their own report, and we're worried about our health,'' said
one employee who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.
The employees were told they could not leave by their immediate supervisors
until they got a doctor's note verifying their condition. But after being
contacted Thursday by the Mercury News, Assistant County Executive Pete
Kutras said the employees with asthma would be moved immediately. But he
said they must still bring in a doctor's note by the end of next week. ''There was a communication problem with the courts,'' Kutras said. ''Any
employee who has adult-onset asthma or says their asthma has worsened is to
be immediately reassigned.'' The county plans to close the $7.5 million courthouse and finish moving all the
employees by early August because the mold, Stachybotrys atra, can trigger
reactions ranging from mild lower-respiratory infections to, in extremely rare
cases, bleeding lungs in infants. The slimy, black mold is caused by moisture leaking through the roof,
windows and walls of the building. Higher cost 1 of 3 7/25/99 7:14 PM NewsLibrary Document Delivery http://newslibrary.krmediastream.com/cgi...cument/nl2_auth?DBLIST=sj99&DOCNUM=24234 Analyzing the mold problem and moving 71 employees to portable offices on
the same Monterey Road site will cost $1.6 million more than originally
anticipated, for a total of $2.6 million, county officials said Thursday. The move, which will take two months, was originally planned to start in
April, but has been delayed until May 28. Kutras said it could be further
postponed because of delays in installing sewer lines and other infrastructure. ''The relocation dates are a constantly moving target,'' he acknowledged. To determine the health risk facing employees, the county hired Dr. Joseph
Jarvis, an occupational and environmental health expert based in Salt Lake
City. In a May 5 report, Jarvis recommended that any courthouse employee who
has contracted asthma since the building opened in 1995 or whose previous
asthma condition has worsened be immediately moved to another building.
''This is not all in their heads or manufactured,'' Jarvis said Thursday, adding
that asthma rates among courthouse employees are twice as high as among a
control group of other county employees. ''This kind of asthma can become a
chronic health problem even after a person is removed from exposure.'' In addition to high rates of asthma, Jarvis also discovered a
higher-than-normal rate of mold-related ''sick-building syndrome,''
includingheadaches and eye, nose and throat irritation. But he said it is safe for
employees who are suffering from that syndrome to remain in the courthouse.
He based his conclusions on in-depth interviews with 16 courthouse
employees and county employees who work in other buildings. ''Sick-building syndrome is a horrible name, but unlike with asthma, you can
recover from it once you are no longer in a problem building,'' Jarvis said. Cleaning ahead Rampant growth of the mold has already forced the county to close about 15
rooms in the courthouse. Seventeen employees have been temporarily
relocated to facilities in San Jose. Jarvis said the contents of many rooms in the courthouse will have to be
cleaned before being moved to the portables. Furniture, papers and books
from rooms that have had visible mold growth will have to be cleaned using a
vacuum equipped with a special filter, he said. ''You can spray Clorox all over
to kill the mold spores, but dead or alive, they can still cause an allergic
reaction,'' Jarvis said. It is still unclear whether the courthouse can be repaired or will have to be
replaced. To try to recover its costs, the county has filed a lawsuit against 17
companies involved in designing and building the San Martin courthouse, 2 of 3 7/25/99 7:14 PM NewsLibrary Document Delivery http://newslibrary.krmediastream.com/cgi...cument/nl2_auth?DBLIST=sj99&DOCNUM=24234 alleging faulty construction. All content © SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS and may not be republished without permission. All archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper library system from MediaStream Inc., a
Knight-Ridder Inc. company. 3 of 3 7/25/99 7:14 PM |
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