Walters Hall Health Concerns Raised

Concerns about environmental conditions have arisen among faculty and staff working in Walters Hall.  With the recent diagnoses of multiple, severe health issues (a few involving cancer) to staff working in the building, faculty and staff have begun to question the safety of the infrastructure of the building, which opened in 1999.

In a recent e-mail to faculty and staff, UCBA Dean Cady Short-Thompson offered reassurance that all precautionary actions will be taken in order to provide for the safety of the building and those who occupy it.  She said that she has requested that Jan Utrecht, UC Director of Environmental Health and Safety, assemble a team to investigate the concerns as soon as possible and report to her the results of the study.  Utrecht’s office has successfully resolved similar incidents on UC Clifton and Blue Ash Campuses, the Dean explained.

The evaluation of Walters Hall will likely begin during the week of December 1, following Thanksgiving, and will continue until December 15.  According to Tom Cruse, UCBA Director of Facilities and Events, Environmental Health and Safety will likely call in a consulting firm to do a full study.  This includes interviews with the staff about their medical history, conducting air quality studies, and, among other things, closely looking at the building’s systems.

Cruse is in charge of putting together a list of occupants of the Walters building, in order to efficiently schedule the interviews.

Cruse and the Dean would like to reassure everyone that every necessary action is being taken to keep users of the building safe.  In recent years, similar concerns were raised about the safety of Muntz Hall, yet the study yielded nothing about the building that could be regarded as detrimental to the health of the occupants.