The Ministry of Energy and Environment says in a recently released 2006 annual report that over the past year, there has been increased concern with regard to the presence of mold in buildings, both public and private institutions, as well as in private residences.

According to that report, there has also been perceived risks associated with molds.

The report says workers from the Environmental Monitoring and Risk Assessment Division have been trained by international experts in the field and as a result have attained an increased level of competence in addressing such concerns.

One public building that caused concern regarding the presence of mold was the Ministry of Education Building on Thompson Boulevard. Officials say they continue to take steps to address the problem.

Last year, some workers who work in the building walked off their jobs due to reported high levels of toxic fumes from chemicals used to kill the mold.

Director of Environmental Health Melanie McKenzie said recently once the situation arose the Department of Environmental Health investigated.

She said the department initially found that there were some issues related to the ventilation system and general housekeeping, and that active investigations were ongoing.

"That matter was then taken over by the Ministry of Health, but we have been working along with them and there has been some remediation work carried out," Ms. McKenzie said.

"Since that time they have had a number of persons go off and be trained to be able to allow for additional investigations of other buildings because the Ministry of Education is not actually the only building that has a problem. Those officers have also been certified and therefore would be able to train other persons (in mold identification and remediation.)"

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