Building to blame?
Cause of DPS employees' illness being investigated

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — After several dispatchers with the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety came forward complaining of symptoms of constant nausea and continual headaches, an investigation to pinpoint the cause has been initiated.

Samson Cowboy, executive director for the Division of Public Safety, said dispatchers have temporarily been removed to a conference room, after several came forward saying they believe batteries from a storage room behind the dispatch office are the cause of their continual sickness.

Cowboy said dispatchers complained of a weird smell that was causing them to get sick, claiming it was the lead and acid from several batteries that are stored in a small room behind the office.

"It mainly affected the dispatchers (enough) to get a medical exam," said Cowboy. "The next step is to remove the batteries."

The batteries are scheduled to be removed by the manufacturer, Trojan Battery, Co., on Thursday.

No evidence
But CJ Woody, program supervisor for Navajo Safety and Loss Control, is not convinced the batteries are causing them to get sick, especially since he said the batteries had never been charged or used. The batteries, Woody said, were to be used as a second back-up plan if a generator were to fail during a blackout.

"There's no potential hazard as we speak right now," said Woody.

The complaints by several dispatchers are not recent, said Woody, who said the complaints have been made throughout the past summer and winter.

After several employees came forward about getting sick, Woody said they began running tests on the building, checking for combustibles, vapors, and gases, such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide. But nothing was found.

"Those are all normal," said Woody. "With our monitors, we don't pick up anything."

No ventilation
While the batteries in the storage room have been identified by Woody as a weak culprit to the cause of the symptoms, he said they are still being removed because it was discovered that there was no safety protocol in place if an explosion were to take place.

"The batteries should not have been installed in there," said Woody. "There is no ventilation."

The manufacturer also claims the batteries could not be the cause of the dispatchers' symptoms.

"The harmful elements, like lead, can only be a hazardous material if they are breathed in," said Craig Quentin, engineer with Trojan Battery, Co. "When (lead is) in a battery, it's in a safe place."

Unless the batteries began discharging a "rotten egg smell," signaling an outdated battery, and the burning of sulfate to create sulfuric acid, Quentin said, there is no risk of being exposed to its toxic chemicals.

"If that (removal) solves the problem, that'd be great," said Woody. "(But) they were never turned on to charge."

Woody said the people who have come forward to report sickness have varying symptoms, making it hard to pinpoint what the cause may be. The department, Woody said, would have to work with the dispatchers' physicians to come to a conclusion of the cause.

Other than dispatchers, Woody said when the department talked to various employees in the building, there were no complaints.

"It seems that everyone we talked to was fine," he said.

Sick building syndrome?
Another possibility, Woody said, is that the symptoms could be due to "sick building syndrome," meaning that the building is so old, people feel automatic discomfort when entering it.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the term "sick building syndrome" is used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health and discomfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. The complaints may be localized in a particular room or zone, or may be widespread throughout the day.

"We're not going to be able to house ourselves in the next 10 years," said Woody. "The buildings are deteriorating so rapidly."

Woody also said that the building may have mold, or some other contributing factor. It's also suspected that gas could be blowing into the building from an outside meter, or that fumes from the evidence room, containing contrabands such as marijuana, could be the cause. With the building having no ventilation, officials said it could be anything.

"We haven't narrowed it down to anything yet, specifically," said Woody. "We're doing a process of elimination."

Woody said officials are getting in contact with the Centers for Disease Control branch in Denver on how to collect samples to determine what the cause may be.

Until the problem is resolved, Woody recommends employees feeling nauseated at work get fresh air as much as possible.

"What else can we do? There's nothing else, except say it's safe to be in that building," said Woody. "All we can rely on is what our monitor says."

Officials did not want to comment on whether dispatchers are filing official complaints against the office.

"It's all an internal matter," said Cowboy.