Mold Questions & Answers in the
Hospitality Business
Q.
I work in a retail location that has just discovered we have a mold
infested wall adjoining two stores. The landlord says its not their
problem its the stores, so no one is doing any repair until the fault is
found. In the mean time, my co-workers an I are feeling the effects and it
appears I have been for months now without realising the cause. Now that
the wall has been opened it is getting worse. The location next to us is a
restaurant and is serving food! How can I go about getting this tested and
some action if our corporate won't help us? Email question sent to Phillip
Fry on Aug. 27, 2009.
A. When the adjoining restaurant
serves food in a mold-contaminated building, it endangers the health of
both its customers and staff. Growing mold, especially when the moldy
walls have been opened up, throws millions of mold spores into the air.
Restaurant guests will eat food contaminated with deposited mold spores.
Eating mold spores is a very efficient way to start mold growth inside
one's body. Both the restaurant and adjoining store customers and staff
are also inhaling the airborne mold spores, enabling mold to start growing
in their lungs (and eating their lungs in the process). Any mold in
elevated levels indoors is dangerous to building occupants according to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If you want to know the mold
species involved in the moldy wall, collect a sample with one inch wide
clear Scotch tape and submit it to a mold lab for mold species
identification and quantification. You can also anonymously report the
landlord, the restaurant, and the store to your local city building
inspector and to your state's occupational and safety health
administration. You should also strongly encourage your boss to take
action for mold inspection, testing, and remediation. Making employees
work in a mold-infested workplace is illegal. |