Secretary of State, Driver Services Facility,
Champaign, Illinois, September 2014
One of Dr. Fletcher’s more well-known epidemiological investigations for building-related illness (BRI) cases involved State of Illinois employees, who worked at the Champaign, Illinois Secretary of State, Driver Services Facility at 2401 W. Bradley Ave., Champaign.
He served as a treating physician for 15 employees who presented in September 2014 with complaints of air quality issues: malaise, headaches, sore throats, burning eyes and a metallic taste.
Not only did Dr. Fletcher examine and treat these employees, he conducted a worksite evaluation and reviewed the industrial hygiene air sampling. He determined the employee complaints were related to unusually high levels of carbon dioxide. Air sampling found carbon dioxide levels of around 2,800 parts per million, when the recommended level is between 600 to 1,000 ppm.
It was Dr. Fletcher’s opinion, as well as other consultants involved in the case, that the levels were an indicator of poor ventilation system performance in the building and would explain the employees’ feeling of malaise or respiratory complaints.
Dr. Fletcher removed several of the employees from the workplace and their symptoms abated. The Secretary of State’s office limited the number of customers in the building to reduce raising the carbon dioxide levels in the office, since all humans naturally off-gas carbon dioxide. The day after Election Day in November 2014, the drivers’ license services building was closed permanently and the Secretary of State moved into new facility at 2010 Round Barn Road, Champaign, Illinois in August 2015.
The former drivers service building on Bradley Avenue in West Champaign, where employees had lodged numerous complaints about the health conditions and air quality inside the facility was abruptly closed in November 2014 and was actually torn down in May 2015 because of the air quality hazards.
For more information, read the two articles below.
Kacich: Driver-facility saga coming to interesting end
Demolition underway on old driver’s facility; new space to open this summer
