 |
|
|
 |
| |
Asthma in the Office
©2005 Jeffrey C. May, M.A.
Bob was working in an office that was part of a larger warehouse/manufacturing facility.
He was allergic to mold, and he, along with several other employees, experienced
asthma symptoms at work; during humid weather he noted a musty odor. The office
area was carpeted, and the carpet was on concrete that was resting directly on soil
(slab-on-grade).
There were carpet-protector mats under each desk chair, and holes had been drilled
in some of the mats because trapped moisture sometimes condensed on the back side
of the plastic. According to the builder, no vapor barrier had been placed on the
soil prior to pouring the concrete for the slab.
(Comment: The concentration of mold spores indoors was not very different
from the concentration outdoors, despite traffic on the carpet. Directly underneath the mats, though, the dust in the carpeting was severely infested with mites and Aspergillus mold.
Moisture from the soil was passing through the concrete into the carpet, and the plastic mats were preventing evaporation. When chairs rolled over the mats, air flow from the holes
contained Aspergillus spores.)
Jeffrey C. May is a building consultant, Certified Indoor Air Quality Professional (CIAQP), and author of My
House is Killing Me! The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and
Asthma (2001) and My Office is Killing Me! The Sick Building Survival
Guide (2006), as well as co-author of The Mold Survival Guide: For Your
Home and for Your Health (2004), all published by Johns Hopkins University Press. A former educator and organic chemist (M.A. Harvard University), Jeff is principal scientist of May Indoor Air Investigations LLC in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts.
.............
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
