 "Photo: Karl Anderson")
The Graduate Admissions Office, located in the basement of Holden Hall, is awaiting results on final tests from the Environmental Health and Safety Department at Texas Tech as to whether the work environment is safe.
The department inspected the office Sept. 15 to assess the indoor air quality after carpets were reported damp and mildewy and black material was precipitating out of air ducts. The analysis did not reveal levels of mold growth greater than those present in the outdoor air.
Recommendations were given by the report to clean out the air ducts and seal the windows to prevent possible water intrusions. Since then, concern has continued to be voiced about the situation.
“We were prompted by an anonymous letter to ask for a follow-up investigation,” said Fred Hartmeister, dean of the Graduate School. “There’s no current update, but preliminary findings have indicated that there are no health problems.”
Terri Kirkpatrick, an adviser in the college and one of those concerned with the air quality, has an office in Room 03C and said the air duct in her office contained black material. All the rooms that have air ducts connected to the central heating ventilation and air conditioning system — Rooms 03C, 03D, 03E and 03F — have reported the same black material.
“You could see it when they took the screen off,” Kirkpatrick said. “In the office next door, the vent is above the desk and you can come in the mornings and see a layer of black on the desk.”
Kirkpatrick recently developed a staphylococcus infection. She said when she went to her doctor, he suggested it may have been caused by breathing in the air that was being circulated where she worked.
“We’re all just very anxious to get something taken care of,” she said. “It’s not safe to be working here for eight hours a day breathing in unclean air.”
A list was compiled of other employees who voluntarily submitted symptoms they have experienced that may be correlated to the basement offices in which they work in. The list showed seven employees with a history of thyroid-related problems since working in the offices. One employee developed asthma during her time working there.
“We asked staff members to comply in order to provide information about our concerns,” Hartmeister said. “We don’t know if it’s a disproportionately high level of incidence, but we are just asking for the proper folks to insure safety on our behalf.”
Matt Roe of Environmental Health and Safety said nothing in the offices has been found to be a health hazard at the time.
“I don’t think that it’s a toxic environment,” Roe said. “There have been several health complaints from down there, but we have tested for many things and it all came out at negative or at low levels.”
Hartmeister said all the employees in the Graduate Admissions Office can do now is wait for the final results.
“We are just hoping that all the thyroid problems are a coincidence and it’s not an unsafe environment,” he said. “We are just waiting for data to see if it’s a yes or a no.”
If it is a yes, Hartmeister said the employees would have to leave the offices while it would undergo treatment.
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