By:Angela Marshall
Women says office's foul odor has made them ill
Phyllis Alto and Susan Hughes think something stinks on Merrick Road.
For three years, tenants of the four-story office building at 371 Merrick Road have complained about a mysterious smell resembling rotten eggs. Many say it has made them sick. Earlier this year, Alto and Hughes refused to work in the building until the stench was removed, and on June 12 they filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against the building's operator, Gilman Management Corp,, for damages exceeding $25,000.
Pages and pages of complaints have been filed with the Nassau County Health Department about the odor, but in the almost three years since it began, no solution has been found.
Jeffery Gilman has said it is not for lack of trying. He has hired two environmental firms who have offered plenty of suggestions as to what the problem might be, and he followed up with attempts to clear the air. But nothing has worked. In a Dec. letter to the health department, Gilman said he has spent $75,000 "to try to find and cure the source of the 'dreaded smell.'"
Employees from at least six offices in the building say they have experienced symptoms that include vomiting, headaches, numbness of the lips, tightness in the chest, palpitations and more. Suite numbers listed in the Health Department's complaint file include 201-205, 301, 302 and 304. The odor has also been detected in the lobby, second-floor hallway and fourth-floor women's bathroom.
Alto and another worker in the building were taken to the hospital on Feb. 12. At first, medical workers thought there might have been a carbon monoxide leak, but tests came back negative. A third worker, who asked to remain anonymous, left her job because of the smell and resultant symptoms she experienced.
In the suit, Alto and Hughes say the chemicals behind the odor have caused "major health problems, which are extremely serious and potentially disabling."
The two declined to comment for this article because they have not yet given depositions. However, in an earlier interview, Hughes, of Long Beach, said she suffered chest pains and had trouble breathing Feb. 12 and decided that she could no longer continue to work in an environment she felt was making her ill. When she explained her decision to her employers at Horizon OB GYN, her employment was terminated.
Alto, of Oceanside, took an unpaid leave of absence from her employer, a physician. She wants to return to work, she said, but not until the odor and whatever is causing it are gone.
Alto and Hughes are not the first to threaten legal action against Gilman. Over the years, employees of the Louis D. Krasner insurance firm have sent more than 25 complaints to Gilman. Many of the letters stated, "I want you to know that you and your firm are being held responsible for any personal injury and economic loss which may occur due to the inability to resolve this problem in a timely manner. You may want to notify your insurance carrier, if you have environmental insurance, or your attorney."
Stefanie Giangregorio, a Krasner employee, said they have a binder "about three inches thick" filled with information about the odor and other problems in the building. "It's just really, really awful," she said.
In December 2000, Giangregorio was pregnant and would become nauseated every time the smell returned. Sometimes she vomited. Eventually she miscarried, and although she does not know what caused it, Giangregorio has always wondered if it might have been the chemicals causing the odor.
Giangregorio has worked in the building for six years and believes the odor began around October 1998. She said that one day last week, the odor came three times; once so bad, they had to leave the building.
"It's making us sick, triggering asthma, forcing us to leave the building whenever it happens," an employee from suite 204 said in a complaint to the health department.
Tracking the smell
Although Gilman has hired two consultants to find out what plagues the building, neither has been able to eradicate it. The main problem is the short duration of the odor. It comes at different times and lasts 10 to 20 minutes, according to reports taken by the health department. By the time their investigators arrive, most of the smell has already disappeared.
Between July 1999 and February 2000, the health department conducted nine inspections of the building and found a "slight hydrogen sulfide odor," which resembles rotten eggs, during four of them, according to a letter that Hugh F. Mahoney, deputy commissioner of health, wrote to Louis Krasner Feb. 21, 2001.
Although Gilman declined to comment on the situation because of the litigation, his frustration and that of his consultants can be seen in much of their correspondence with the health department.
"It is obvious that trying to 'catch' the odor is not performing as planned," an employee of consulting firm Adelaide Associates wrote on Jan. 22 this year. "The spurious and short duration makes it difficult for us to get to the site in a timely fashion to be able to 'sniff' about and discover the source."
What's the harm?
In the suit, Alto and Hughes' attorney Steve Savolo said that health department records "indicate that an indoor air quality test showed the presence of dangerous chemicals, including gasoline vapors, Freon, isopropyl alcohol, penzaldehyde and ethyl alcohol."
Health department representatives deny finding any high levels of dangerous chemicals in the building.
"... it has not been established, through repeated efforts by this department, that there has been any level of air contaminant that could be considered hazardous to the public health," David M. Achman, commissioner of health, wrote to Gilman in March, 2001.
Many of the chemicals named in the suit had been discovered by Gilman consultant Pedneault Associates. In an October 1999 letter, laboratory director John Pedneault said air tests "showed low levels" of many of the chemicals named. "None of the tests showed dangerous levels of these chemicals, but they were always present."
The health department did not answer questions regarding whether long-term exposure to even low amounts of the chemicals would be harmful.
Pedneault said the chemicals came from three sources: medical and dental tenants, ground-floor parking areas and elemental sulfur on the roof. An X-ray development machine, a laser surgery device and several roof drains were all vented into the return plenum of the air-conditioning system. Pedneault wrote in a February 2000 letter to the health department that the roof drains "were illegally connected to the septic system and allowed the sewage gases to enter the air-conditioning system."
It is not clear whether the work necessary to correct the problems was taken. However, several estimates for the work were submitted to the health department.
According to the health department file, the building used to contain open office area and was partitioned off into separate office spaces three years ago. At that time, additional bathrooms, spit sinks and X-ray machines were installed.
A health-department inspector wrote, "I stated that the original waste line was probably not designed to handle the amount of waste that is being generated into it ... and so there could be backups and overflows when the system is being used at close to capacity."
However, pressure tests required by the Village of Rockville Centre Building Department in February came back negative.
"The landlord's been cooperative with everything we've told them to do," said Thomas Bunting, RVC building inspector. "I don't know what else to tell them to do."
The health department has reached a similar conclusion. Because they have been unable to detect any harmful chemicals, the continuing odor becomes "a matter which would have to be resolved privately between the involved parties - landlord and tenant(s)," the commissioner of health wrote in a March 2 letter to Gilman.
Spokesperson Cynthia Brown said the letter does not mean that the department will not respond to complaints at the building. It has just moved into a more support-oriented role.
