Officials hope to solve employees’ health mysteries
Insulation fibers getting into the air seems to be the cause of health issues raised by employees in the prosecutor’s office, and this week the county has approved action it hopes will solve the problems.
The measures to be taken will include replacing the ductwork in the third floor offices of the Platte County Courthouse and also replacing the current old-style insulation in the courthouse attic.
Cost of the ductwork, in a contract with St. Joseph Plumbing and Heating, is slated to be $48,969.
Cost of the insulation replacement is scheduled to be $66,300 in a contract with The Hayes Company.
“For some time, we’ve been trying to solve the riddle of air quality concerns in the third floor of the courthouse,” said Daniel Erickson, facilities director for the county. He said it was determined health concerns reported by employees have been traced to insulation fibers “getting into the air in the work space.”
The new insulation will be of the spray foam variety, he said. The current insulation in place is from the 1960s or early 1970s, county officials said.
Erickson said the insulation removal/replacement will need to be done over a weekend “because the building needs to be vacant.”
The ductwork project, expected to take three of four days, could get rolling as early as this week, Erickson said.
The prosecutor’s office and staff last fall were moved to the Platte County Administration Building, which is connected to the courthouse. The prosecutor’s office has been relocated to the upper level of the administration building in what is normally the county commission meeting room and the county commission office space.
The office space for Dana Babcock, the county’s director of administration, was moved to the basement level of the administration building.
With the relocation, meetings of the Platte County Commission have been held in the Platte County Resource Center, a county-owned building located at 11724 NW Plaza Circle, Kansas City, east of I-29 near the airport exit.
When those changes were announced, county officials made a point to say the relocations would be a temporary situation.
Insulation, ducts could be courthouse problem