Inspectors search for cause of state building illnesses

Art Nadler

Thursday, Aug. 27, 1998 | 10:47 a.m.

Employees who work at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building are sick of being sick.

For 10 months, workers employed at 14 state agencies inside the office building, located at 555 E. Washington Ave., have been experiencing respiratory problems. Itchy eyes, coughing, wheezing and a general feeling of fatigue are common symptoms.

The state Risk Management Division -- in collaboration with a microbiologist from UNLV who is an expert on building illnesses and other state agencies -- have been desperately trying to solve the problem.

The air quality has been measured. Inspectors have looked behind walls and ceiling tiles for fungi, scrubbed and vacuumed offices from top to bottom and collected dust samples.

The cause remains a mystery.

"Our primary goal has been to identify water-damage areas," said Susan Dunt, worker compensation manager with the Risk Management Division. "It has to be water related. But we have not been able to isolate any area with fungus growth."

Two meetings have been scheduled for today at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. inside the Gaming Control Board's office on the second floor. State officials and a building illness expert will tell employees what they've turned up over the last few months.

"It's a very slow process," Donna Varin, chief of administration for the Gaming Control Board, said Wednesday. "We feel very confident that we are close to the problem, but haven't yet found the source."

Gaming Control is the largest tenant in the Swayer Building. Its offices occupy approximately 40,000 square feet on the second floor. Varin said 30 employees have been sick since the first of the year.

The hardest-hit area has been the 20,000-square-foot Gaming Control Board's Investigation and Enforcement Division on the west side of the building.

Employees develop symptoms when they are working in the building, Varin said, and they feel better when they remain away for a period of time.

Dr. James Craner, an occupational medical physician, said the investigation has uncovered several potential sources of water accumulation and microbiological growth that investigators feel may be causing the problem.

Investigators also are looking at potential building design flaws and operational problems that may be contributing to the accumulation of water and microbiological growth.

The $26 million Sawyer Building was previously cited in 1996 for causing employees to become sick from what was described as a sulfide-type order.

Craner said that problem was solved when the source was traced to a grease trap in the cafeteria.

"This is a complex case," Craner said. "It is a microbiological problem, and not infectious (to the general public). We are appropriately investigating all potential sources, thoroughly and logically."