CARPHA Report said to have revealed poor Indoor Air Quality at the Registry & Magistrates Court in Roseau

​A Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Report is alleged to have revealed poor Indoor Air Quality at the Registry & Magistrates Court in Roseau. CARPHA is said to have visited the two buildings to collect necessary data and information for assessment, on the request of the Environmental Health Department (EHD). A report is said to have been released in January 2018.
 
The report was commissioned after staff complained of feeling unwell with some even going on “sick leave”, allegedly because of mould in the building, which had suffered damages during the passage of Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
 
A group of attorneys walked through the city of Roseau recently, and delivered a letter to National Security Minister Rayburne Blackmoore, on the conditions of the buildings. Blackmoore later stated that he had not received, nor heard of, or read, or was even aware of any such report.
 
However, it is said that the assessment in the report, showed species of mould (Cladosporium) at elevated levels in the building, and that “Unclean A/C vents and moisture intrusion were factors supporting growth and proliferation. The results also showed elevated level of VOCs in both buildings. This creates an indoor environmental condition that will support mould growth and proliferation. Mould remediation is recommended for the Magistrate Court building. Elevated temperature, improper/inadequate storage of files and termite infestation are among the issues to be addressed at the Registry, which is now too small to adequately accommodate all the existing files, which has resulted in improper storage and clutter in the vault.”
 
The report is said to have stated that “clutter prevents proper cleaning of the vault and the accumulated dust can affect users. Additionally, the disorder creates harborage for insects and rodents.”
 
It also stated that at the Magistrate Court there was moisture intrusion and the “presence of toxic mould species in occupied spaces have the potential to compromise human health.”
 
The CARPHA team of Bradshaw Isaacs and Shervon Delon met with Ferdinia Carbon and Eric St Ville of the Environmental Health Department and reported that the mould growth is associated with water intrusion, and recommended that “as a first step to the mould remediation process, all sources of water intrusion must be identified and corrected. In terms of actual remediation, if this is not properly done, the workers in the space could be further impacted. Mould remediation must, therefore, be conducted in a professional manner”.
 
The report continued, “Workers tasked with the responsibility of cleaning the building must wear the appropriate protective clothing which includes, hard hats, gloves, coveralls and respirators with NR or P95 filtering face pieces. Cleaning process should be done only on non- porous materials. After remediation, the area must be properly cleaned to remove any mould or dust. The use of a HEPA filtered vacuum is recommended for removal of residual mould & spores from the building”
 
Meanwhile, Registrar Ossie Walsh recently said there have been no recent complaints from staff at the Registry. He said, “From a physical standpoint, where we were in terms of the environment at the Registry, and where we are is a great difference. The place has been cleaned up, the place has been sanitized, it is a vast improvement. Persons, members of staff who did have complaints about itchy skin at one time, burning eyes, there is no such complaint currently at the Registry.”