posted 09-29-2006 04:39 PM            

I am working for a large pharmaceutical company, where I've been temping for about 1 1/2 years. My most recent assignment started in June. We moved to another building 2 weeks ago-- 3 of us were stationed in a "workroom" of sorts.... I'm told it used to be a storage room.

Well....the very day I started working in there I started having trouble with my breathing. I have asthma, but have been extremely well-managed for about 2 years now. I don't have symptoms that often. After 5 days in that room, I needed medication constantly, had headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations that wouldn't stop, ear ringing, nausea, nose burning, itchy bumps all over my neck, and this general really sick feeling all over.

I got better over the weekend and then within an hour in that room last Monday morning was feeling horrible. I left that room, told someone what was going on, got my laptop and worked at a temporary area until they found a place for me the next day.

The second room-- in the same building-- is not as bad, but I am still really sick. It is another very small room with horrible air circulation. I can smell the dust and mold in the air as soon as I enter the room. I am located in a corner where the air circulation is nil.

I thought I must be losing my mind, but then I found all this information online about "Sick Building Syndrome". I am the poster-child for the list of symptoms! I've heard of it, but it was one of those things I knew nothing about.

When I leave work, I feel terrible. My lungs are reacting in a snowball manner-- this morning it felt a little like I'm getting a chest cold, but no cold. To top it off, I have no health insurance right now, so can in no way afford to start hanging out at the doctor's office!

I've been in various buildings at this company and have never experienced this. I think it's definitely the confined work spaces, the small rooms that lack good ventilation.

I never, in my wildest dreams, ever thought THIS would be the problem I encountered at work. I love the work.... I'm learning so much and it's really challenging, but this room is making me sick!! When I initially told management, they didn't say anything to me... I just moved to a different spot (all the spaces this dept. allocates to temps are in closet-like rooms-- yippee).

I called my recruiter yesterday to explain the situation and he said they said there was probably nothing they could do about it--that they're tight on space (which is BS-- there are empty cubicles EVERYWHERE--maybe just not for temps!).

My recruiter said I probably need to "tough it out or find another job."

How can I tough it out when I'm having trouble with my breathing? I went out Monday night and spent $200 on a desktop-size air cleaner, hoping that would help. It is helping-- but only a tiny bit, certainly not enough for the long-term.

I heard today that before I was moved there they had had to work on the ventilation in that room (about 2 months ago), so I know it's a problem they're aware of. My manager knows my problem, yet she hasn't said a single word to me about it. Isn't that cold?

I'm not crazy... I'm just sensitive to mold and dust and this room is full of it. I barely got out of the parking lot today and just burst into tears. THAT was fun.... crying, trying to drive, trying to breathe.

posted 10-03-2006 06:38 PM            

He sent the Safety department to evaluate the air quality in that room yesterday. They found an unhooked air vent tube in the ceiling and reattached it. It made the air quality much worse. Whatever was in that room was blowing around like crazy. I had to leave the room within an hour.

That was this morning.

posted 10-03-2006 08:34 PM            

Once word got out that I was sick, other people approached me saying that they had been feeling sick at work for a long time-- all respiratory symptoms: asthma, sinuses, eyes burning, headaches.

At the very least, I think it was incredibly STUPID for my boss to fire me immediately after I went to her telling her I couldn't breathe in that room!! My recruiter said she had called him to say she was firing me first thing this morning. That was when I approached her about how serious it had gotten! She told him that my technical skills, "Weren't on par with the rest of the group." What a crock. I was hired with 2 others (the whole group of 10 others have only been there 2 months longer) and my skills were well matched. Funny, she never said a word about my skills being an issue before this morning.

posted 10-05-2006 11:22 AM            

But now I'm also feeling so sad that I never stood a chance to make it in that job. The work was so challenging and the experience was so valuable, but I was fighting for air all the time. In my opinion, for my boss to have said it was my technical skills really compromises my professional reputation. Who at work is going to really believe how serious my breathing difficulties really were?

I think there is basis for a complaint to OSHA. Under their standards, workers have a right to breathe air clean enough to not cause them problems on an ongoing basis. I'm going to call them, but right now I'm just trying to get better physically-- and emotionally.

posted 10-11-2006 05:04 PM            

I could file a complaint under the Americans With Disabilities Act, but have to prove that my asthma is indeed a disabillity (defined as "causing substantial limitations" to my everyday life). I talked to a representative in that capacity this morning.

A lawyer friend suggested legal suit if they deny me a job there or if I'm blacklisted from the pharmaceutical industry as a result of this.