Staff raise concerns over toxic mould

Close on the heels of the Graduate Student Society’s (GSS) deferred maintenance campaign, which strove to create awareness around SFU Burnaby’s aging infrastructure, the Teaching and Support Staff Union (TSSU) is calling attention to potentially hazardous toxic mould in Burnaby’s education building.

The University held a town hall meeting on the issue on March 17 and the TSSU held an event on May 5 to discuss the possible health concerns for staff and students working in the area, and what action should be taken by the university. According to TSSU spokesperson Melissa Roth, the TSSU’s recent event was a great success. “We spoke to more than 200 people easily from every group on campus, [and] totally covered the education building in posters [. . .] detailing symptoms of exposure.”

Roth has spoken publicly on the issue, and articulated concerns at the town hall meeting that the health of staff has already been seriously affected by the mould. As reported the Burnaby Newsleader, Roth provided an anecdote of another SFU union member who said that they had worked in the education building for 20 years, and had experienced symptoms of exposure to toxic mould for much of that time.

In an official release, Roth criticized the breakdown of communication and lack of action from the university on the issue. “Even though some of our members have reported adverse health effects from working in the education building during this time, the union has not received any official communications in 1.5 years as to the extent of the problem.

She continued, “We are disappointed but determined to solve this problem to ensure that our workers have a safe work environment in the future.”

According to Terry Waterhouse, SFU’s chief safety officer, the mould problem is indicative of moisture seeping into the 40-year old building, a fact that the university discovered over the past two years.

Waterhouse, who spoke to the Burnaby Newsleader, said that the water damage has affected the structure of the building along with creating the mould and affecting indoor air quality. The extent of the problem will not be known until June, when assessments have been completed. However, work to fix the problem began approximately a year ago.

Waterhouse also refuted the TSSU’s claims of poor communication, saying that the university has “communicated broadly” with users of the building, disseminated information about the work being done, and held a town hall meeting in March.

The university receives $2.2 million annually from the provincial government for maintenance, although required yearly maintenance costs are estimated at $20 million. In 2011, the university’s Five Year Capital Plan reported that 53 per cent of the campus’ buildings are in poor condition, while another 27 per cent are ranked fair.