Despite reports, art building smells unsafe

The Allen art building stinks. Literally. For over three years office workers and students have complained about the chemical smell originating in the bowels of the building. The College has responded with investigations into the matter, but suffering individuals feel the matter has not been handled with the greatest care.

The College received a request Feb. 25 from a subdivision of the U.S. Department of Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to formally investigate the problem. After OSHA was prompted by an undisclosed individual's complaint, the College provided sufficient evidence that there is no health hazard in the art building. OSHA has since accepted their compliance.

This problem was first noted back in 1996, when the College contracted an industrial hygienist from Toledo to investigate the solvent levels in the air. They found that no serious health problem was posed. However, more recent studies have shown that minute levels of chemicals can be found in the air in the art building, but the levels are not high enough to provide significant health risks, according to Cheryl Wolfe, director of environmental health and safety.

Dr. Wil A. Spaul, an indoor air quality expert, investigated the art building on Tuesday. Although they are awaiting his final report, his preliminary findings confirmed the fact that the building environment is not dangerous. Spaul spoke individually with building employees, and will take into consideration their comments in his final recommendations.

Even though it has been proved that the building is not a health risk, there still exists a significant amount of individuals complaining of health problems in the art building. "There are so many people that are ill in this building," said Paula Baymiller, an administrative assistant in the art library.

Baymiller suffers from a long list of health problems, including sore throats, headaches, fatigue, and balance problems. "I can't be certain whether any of my health problems are related to the building," said Baymiller.

Administrative Art Technician Barbara Colbert had to take a medical leave of absence because of her chronic asthmatic bronchitis. Two other building workers have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. While all of these problems have not been directly attributed to any problem with the art building, most employees thought the high occurrence of health problems to be a strong case for some dysfunction in the building.

Some employees feel that the College has not dealt with this problem in a timely fashion. "Dragging their feet would be a good way of describing it," said Baymiller. Wolfe defended her actions in the handling of this matter. Wolfe said, "Some of the time that elapsed where we weren't doing anything, we actually had engineers working on the problem." She felt that the College has made every effort to correct the problem. "I believe we have gone above and beyond what we were required to do," said Wolfe in reference to the hiring of Spaul.

Some of the concern over health can be associated directly with the building itself. The poorly designed structure places both the first floor and the basement on the same air handler. According to Wolfe, this creates a "tight building," with high-pressure areas that actually attract air from other areas of the building.

Other concerns originate in the labs of the Intermuseum Conservation Association, a private company that leases out space in the basement of the art building. The ICA incorporates organic solvents in their painting restorations. According to a letter sent by Wolfe to acting area coordinator for the department of labor Dennis Slessman all ICA technicians receive proper training in dealing with chemical use. However, the letter also referred to an incident last October when a new employee did not use proper ventilation with a solvent.

In addition to the ICA, chemical paints, which may also be unsafe when not ventilated properly, are used in the art studios. Wolfe explained that some of these paints and solvents contain a very strong odor, which can be detected in the building. However, the strong smell of these chemicals does not necessarily mean they are dangerous.

Baymiller cited three separate instances since 1993 in which she had to shut down the library because of strong fumes. The College has investigated a number of avenues to correct the current problem, but will wait for Spaul's report before it makes any structural changes. Wolfe admits some fault in the matter, though, "We maybe haven't done a good job in communicating the changes we have made," said Wolfe.