The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Staff Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

STAFF at the Grand Bahama Ministry has been experiencing health issues due to the presence of mould at the Harold DeGregory Government Complex Building on the Mall.

Melvin Seymour, permanent secretary at the Ministry for Grand Bahama, also confirmed that poor air quality due to dust particles from construction work in the building is causing some challenges for workers.

Some workers have experienced symptoms such as coughing, sinus issues, and throat and eye irritations.

In the meantime, Mr Seymour said the building remains open until a decision is made concerning full remediation.

“We do have some requests where persons have been asking if they can work away and we have approved those. It could be about four or five persons. We explained to workers that if they need to work away, they can request it,” he said.

“We are waiting to see how long before we need to close to get it done over the short term. For example, if we have all ducks in the pond, and we know from Thursday to Sunday we can get everything done, we might very well be able to do it that way, or for a week.

“So, we are going to determine that very soon from the quotes we get for doing this work and following further discussion from providers of the services.”

Permanent Secretary Seymour said the Ministry for Grand Bahama building has been plagued with challenges following Hurricane Dorian when four feet of water came into the building.

He said a lot of work was done initially to take out and replace all of the sheetrock on the ground floor.

“We found out later that by the force of the wind and rain some water might have leaked through the windows and got into additional plating on the interior, and that might have caused some challenges as well,” he said.

He said for more than a year they have been working to resolve the challenges by changing all floor carpeting with tiles.

“We were of the view that contaminants would have been part of what was causing people to cough more than usual and bring down sinuses more, and that kind of thing,” he added.

According to M Seymour, the HVAC system is also cleaned on a regular basis to minimise mould infestation among other things.

He said assessments have been conducted and an analyst has confirmed there are still some challenges in terms of air quality and the possible lingering presence of some mould in the building.

“Some of it might have been caused by the construction we are doing and dust that is happening, and so we are trying to minimise that as well.”

Mr Seymour said work is underway on the entire fifth floor which is being turned into an office space.

“The analyst is of the view that some of what is happening there is spreading throughout the building from construction on the fifth floor. It is not new construction, it is retrofitting and it is on the interior and some of that might be the cause of dust moving from place to place," he said.

The Ministry for Grand Bahama has hired additional cleaners since July last year, and air filters in the AC are being changed.

“We done that yesterday, and we are hoping in the short term we can get some things done because the building is over 20 years old,” he said.

Mr Seymour said government services will continue until a determination can be made concerning full remediation.

“We have plans to remediate this whole situation so we can get back to normal working habits and not put anyone’s life in harm’s way,” he said.