diagnose my co-workers

everyday, my co-worker feels congested, headachy, and sometimes nautious at work. shes been there 2 years and just recently started feeling this way about a month ago. she complained to our operations manager and he says maybe she's allergic to someone's perfume...i seriously doubt thats it! but she's not the only one -- throughout the day, everyone in the office is constantly sneezing or coughing. funny thing is that everyone says they feel fine as soon as they get outside.

could it be dirty carpets?...poor ventilation? (there are no windows that open in our office)...or, dare i say...asbestos????

ive only been there 2 months so i have no symptoms yet, but all of the girls say that working there is slowly killing them! what options do we have?

Re: diagnose my co-workers

At my old job - I had horrible asthma/allergy symptoms. Only at the office.

During some office changes, we noticed that the outside side door that I worked 10 feet away from wasn't sealed properly at the bottom; and any time it would rain, it would cause a leak and the carpet near that area would get soaked. (There was another carpet and filecabinets on top of it, so we never knew this was happening.)

They lifted up the rug - and of course, there was the great mold. They cleaned it up, and I was much much better. I wasn't perfect; because they probably did a crappy job of cleaning the mold, but it was better.

Re: diagnose my co-workers

Several of us had a similar problem at my old job & it turned out that the problem was two-fold. The air ducts needed a good cleaning (it had been a few years) and there was serious mold behind a wall that ran the length of the entire building...

Re: diagnose my co-workers

Sounds like there might be mold in the building... either in the rugs or in the walls/celings.
Either that or a lot of dust mites...

They need to go to HR about this...if you have HR...and let them know. They will have to do something about it- if they don't you guys can contact OSHA- Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Here is their website...

OSHA

Message edited 8/7/2008 8:57:31 AM.

Re: diagnose my co-workers

At my old job people in my office were constantly sick. There was no outdoor ventilation, mouse droppings everywhere, floors were cleaned very badly, and lots of boxes for dust to accumulate on--it's no wonder.
If enough of you complain, they may have to clean.

Re: diagnose my co-workers