Page 10 - NBIZ Magazine June 2023

UNDER their clothes and in their hair. After testing some suites
that were farther from the construction zones, it was
CONSTRUCTION confirmed these spaces weren’t experiencing a problem so,
I went to the client with my findings.
JOIN THE HEA SUCCESS.
The long and short of it is that the construction lead
When Contractors Create a Liability wasn’t managing the site well enough. They needed to con- JOIN THE HEA SUCCESS.
tain the area, put it under negative pressure, set up some
air scrubbers with a HEPA filter to clean the air coming
By Travis West
out of the area, clean the hallway carpets, and instruct the
construction crew to stop dragging equipment across the
ndoor air quality is everyone’s responsibility. I say this carpet. My client forwarded the report to the contractor
all the time, and I probably sound like a broken record, and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he was creating a
but I’m constantly stunned at how often people fail to huge liability and was going to cause a lawsuit!
Iunderstand that what they do inside a building can Problems happen around construction areas often,
impact everyone else. From “noxious” fumes emanating especially when the contractor doesn’t understand how
from a woman’s daily breakfast of maple-flavored oatmeal he/she is impacting the IAQ. Ideally, after hearing about
to bacteria residing inside a taxidermy trophy, sometimes the risks, a contractor will do everything in his/her power
the indoor air quality culprit is totally unexpected and to remedy the situation. Considering my company had to
caused by someone who should really know better. go back to that medical building four times for follow-up
Not long ago, my company was called out to a medical inspections, where we found the filters not running and
building where tenants had been complaining about the more particles in the carpet each time, it’s safe to say that
indoor air quality. Fortunately, no one had gotten sick from the contractor did not take my advice seriously.
it yet, but the building manager, being very wise, wanted to This contractor’s carelessness could potentially pose a
act fast. I knew there was definitely something wrong when big problem to this building in the future. The area with
I met a woman with irritated skin around her nose, eyes, the construction has two A/C units mounted to the roof,
elbows, and wrists that was rubbed raw from scratching. At and one wouldn't be surprised to hear that the contractor
the time, a quarter of the building was under construction didn’t cover the supply vents and was letting them run the
and the tenants who were complaining just happened to be whole time. Considering how he treated the construction
located in offices closest to the construction. process, I can’t imagine he’ll think to clear out the A/C
I set up some equipment to test for airborne particles before the building moves tenants into those spaces.
and found that the count was forty times higher than it Consider this a cautionary tale. Before letting anyone do
should have been. I certainly had my suspicions about any work in or on one’s building, one needs to make sure the
the cause when I looked down the hallway and saw some contractors hired are experienced enough to follow proper
of the construction crew dragging a piece of fiberglass protocol in order to maintain good indoor air quality. N
insulation over the carpet. Plus, the construction area was
not closed off, and the crew was unknowingly carrying Building Air Quality is a Texas-based consulting firm
fibers and contaminants to other parts of the building on in business to identify and eliminate Indoor Air Quality
(IAQ) problems in commercial buildings. The scope of
our service ranges from ProActive indoor air quality
investigations designed to identify IAQ problems before
they occur, to reactive situations in which we attempt to
identify and solve indoor air quality problems which are
occurring. Travis West can be reached at twest@baq1.com.

10 NBIZ ■ June 2023