As­sess­ment works are cur­rent­ly be­ing car­ried out at the Po­lice Ad­min­is­tra­tion Build­ing in Port-of-Spain, fol­low­ing re­ports of mould in the walls, on the fur­ni­ture and in the air-con­di­tion­ing ducts which have led to some of­fi­cers and ad­min­is­tra­tive staff falling ill.

The sit­u­a­tion is so se­ri­ous that mem­bers of the pub­lic who may have to do busi­ness at the build­ing have been told to not spend more than four hours there. Of­fi­cers and civil­ian staff have not been work­ing full shifts be­cause of the is­sue.

Con­firm­ing the air-con­di­tion­ing sys­tem on the sec­ond floor of the six-storey build­ing at Sackville Street had been down for some time, Pub­lic In­for­ma­tion Of­fi­cer In­sp Michelle Lewis yes­ter­day said they are work­ing ex­pe­di­tious­ly to rec­ti­fy the is­sues.

Lewis, who re­spond­ed to ques­tions dur­ing a me­dia brief­ing at the Po­lice Ad­min­is­tra­tion Build­ing, said she was aware of the com­plaints that had sur­faced about the Po­lice Ad­min­is­tra­tion Build­ing as well as the River­side Plaza where sev­er­al spe­cial­ist units are housed.

“I am aware of the break down of some air-con­di­tion units but I can al­so tell you from what I ob­served yes­ter­day evening (Wednes­day), that the team which has the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for that...I have seen them here very late up to when I left af­ter 6 pm and so, they are work­ing to re­solve the prob­lem,” she said.

The TTPS’s Cor­po­rate Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Unit along with the Au­dio Vi­su­al Unit are among those lo­cat­ed on the sec­ond floor.

Un­able to say just how many peo­ple had fall­en ill as well as how many had de­vel­oped res­pi­ra­to­ry prob­lems as a re­sult, Lewis re­vealed, “We have the Po­lice Health Fa­cil­i­ty which is avail­able for of­fi­cers to use should they en­counter any health is­sues, and we al­so have the sup­port of the Po­lice Ser­vice So­cial and Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion.”

“We will def­i­nite­ly treat with the con­cern of any of­fi­cer,” she said.

Asked what ad­vice she would give to mem­bers of the pub­lic com­ing to con­duct busi­ness at the Po­lice Ad­min­is­tra­tion Build­ing, she said, “Hav­ing spo­ken to the head of the Po­lice Health Fa­cil­i­ty, Dr Fran­cis has ad­vised that per­son­nel who are com­ing here would gen­er­al­ly not spend four hours here.”

Some of­fi­cers on the af­fect­ed floor said they were not work­ing a full shift as a re­sult and while Lewis could not say when the is­sue would be re­solved, she as­sured, “The health of the per­sons here is of para­mount im­por­tance and we are work­ing on it ex­pe­di­tious­ly.”

What is mould: Mould is a nat­ur­al part of the en­vi­ron­ment and can be found al­most any­where that mois­ture and oxy­gen are present.

Symp­toms of mould ex­po­sure in­clude sneez­ing; run­ny/stuffy nose; cough and post-nasal drip; itchy eyes, nose and throat; wa­tery eyes; and dry or scaly skin.

Peo­ple af­fect­ed by ex­po­sure to mould could ex­pe­ri­ence con­stant mi­graines and headaches; short­ness of breath; brain fog; fa­tigue and even de­pres­sion.