Dust, mold and other particles kicked into the air because of construction projects at the Douglas County Courthouse and the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center have been sickening employees for months, they say.

A petition signed by 131 city, county and state employees who work in the buildings was received last week by Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug, the Lawrence, Kan. Journal-World reported.

”We, the people who have signed this petition, believe the county of Douglas denied us a safe working environment,” the petition says.

The petitioners asked Weinaug to have the two buildings inspected for excessive mold exposure, sick building syndrome “and any other contaminants that we have been exposed to since March 2001.” The Journal-World could find only one employee who signed the petition was willing to talk about the problems, and she declined to give her name. Employees fear retaliation by top officials, she and others said. Although signing the petition was operating through local government’s chain of command, talking to the media wasn’t, they said.

”We know that all of the people who have signed the petition have suffered from a physical problem,” the woman said. “They (county officials) basically been blowing us off.” Weinaug, however, disagreed.

”Whenever we’ve learned about an employee having problems, we have always taken them seriously, and there have been steps taken,” Weinaug said.

Those steps have included sending the person home or moving them to another building or location to work, Weinaug said.

”We have not had any more problems than would be expected for a project like this,” Weinaug said of the construction work.

Moreover, Weinaug said complaints he was aware of were caused by a specific construction phase that was taking place on a particular day.

Among the specific complaints listed in the petition are recurrent headaches, dizziness, sinus problems, blurred vision, shortness of breath and chest tightness.

The petition also expressed concern about ceiling tile fibers and health problems they might have caused. The employee who talked to the Journal-World said moving employees in the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center to the old courthouse didn’t necessarily solve the problem.

”There is construction going on in both places,” she said. The $4 million construction project is expected to be completed in two months, Weinaug said. At that time an air-quality assessment will be conducted in the buildings by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

”Renovation does stir up a lot of dust and mold, and it is an inconvenience,” said Douglas County Commissioner Charles Jones, who once headed KDHE’s Division of Environment.

”I think we are going to be more aggressive about changing filters in the air conditioning and get the stuff out of the system,” Jones said.

The construction work has caused other problems. In June, $31,000 worth of equipment had to be replaced in the Douglas County Emergency Communications Center because it was damaged by dust.

A year ago, fumes from use of a sealant in the basement of the judicial center caused people to get sick and led to the shutdown of two court offices.

First published September 2002