THE Civil Service Association (CSA) is gearing itself for a bout with government over air quality in buildings that house key government offices.
Wilfred Pierre, CSA’s general secretary Thursday noted the government will be hearing from them in the coming days in respect of buildings housing government employees that are not being maintained as they should.
The situation escalated this week when employees of the Treasury Department stayed away from their work stations complaining of respiratory problems.
One employee told The VOICE of another employee falling sick as a result of the poor air quality in the building and of having rashes on the skin.
Pierre has his eyes on three buildings those housing the Treasury Department, Customs and Ministry of Social Transformation.
He called for an assessment to be done on all the buildings to determine air quality.
Staff at the Treasury were outside the building during working hours yesterday for the third straight day. They claimed that they were not on strike. Pierre too said they were not on strike.
However it appears that they may be out for more days next week if something is not done quickly to allay their fears of poor air quality in the building.
“Staff are not going to come back to this building unless we get the assurance from the Labour Department’s Health and Safety expert, Mr. Griffith, that all is clear as it relates to the Treasury Department,” Pierre said.
He has called for every member of staff at the Treasury and Customs departments to undertake a medical examination in light of the complaints of poor air quality and respiratory problems coming from some workers.
“These are old buildings and you need to maintain those buildings,” Pierre said.
With respect to the Customs building Pierre said, that the procedure was that the ducts and vents were to be cleaned every three months. However this was not being done.
“For a whole year the building has not been maintained,” he added.
