Mold Growing at a Building in the East

July 19, 2006

Jul 18, 2006

Vesco

WNCT - Greenville,NC

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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. 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. 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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