Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Workers say this is not a new problem.  Last summer the office complained of a mold and humidity problem.  The state came to check it out, but nothing was found at that time.  Many employees complain of rashes, coughing, allergy problems and much more.  Legal Assistant, Amy Hedgepath says, "I work with a headache every day. I go home with a headache and most of the time it inches into the state of a migraine."  On Friday, the state came to look at the mold in the District Attorneys office.  David Lipton, from the Division of Public Health says the condensation behind the vinyl wall paper and uncontrolled humidity are the root of the problem.  Lipton says over the weekend they left a gauge to measure humidity.  He says normally humidity in a room should not go past 50 percent.  This weekend the building measured 75 percent.  Duplin County Manager Mike Aldridge says the county gave dehumidifiers as soon as they found out there was a problem.  Workers in the office tell nine on your side they've been complaining about the problem since June, but Aldridge says he didn't know about it until this past Friday.  When Nine on Your Side asked why employees are still allowed to work there, Aldridge said, "Well for one thing we don't have any documentation to say specifically that the problems these employees are facing have directly result from their work environment. We can't prove that.”  But that may change since the state says they are positive they found mold growing.  David Lipton from the Division of Public Health says it's going to be a long process to fix the mold problem.  First they have to figure out why the humidity is not controlled in the building.  Then they will have to strip the vinyl wallpaper remove the moldy drywall.  The actual test results won't be in until the first week of August.
 
 
 

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