Florida Police Station Undergoing Mold Tests

March 2. 2005

FL – Oakland Park city officials want to make sure they’re not sending public safety employees to a place that gets them sick.

The city has hired a North Miami Beach contractor to test the Broward Sheriff’s Office substation, 301 NE 38th St., for mold, fungus and bacteria that would make the building an unsafe workplace. One of the interview rooms in the building has been closed already. The city’s contractor, ART Environmental Inc., analyzed it for bacteria and said it was closed as a “preventative measure,” according to city records.

ART Environmental will test the building’s air quality, and see if it has a widespread mold problem. Test results should be available in about four days, according to city spokesman David Rafter. No employees have been moved from the building yet, he said.

Rafter said another city contractor, ACIA Associates of Fort Lauderdale, which had been hired to remodel the building, originally discovered a possible mold problem. The substation was built in the early `80s, Rafter said.

Rafter could not say whether any employees who work in the building had become ill. Dick Brickman, president of the Police Benevolent Association labor union that represents Sheriff’s Office deputies, said he has heard no complaints from members about the building.

It’s the second Broward County public building revealed to have a possible mold problem this year. Nine employees have filed worker’s compensation claims with the city of Sunrise, saying they became sick while working at the Public Safety Complex on Oakland Park Boulevard.

Author: Carolyn Willbanks