Government and Unions Support Maintenance Plan for Sick Building Syndrome in Barbados

The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) have welcomed the government’s maintenance plan to address sick building syndrome.

However, Deputy General Secretary and Director of Industrial Relations at the BWU, Dwaine Paul, is pleading with the administration to implement a national policy that speaks to the enforcement of building maintenance, upgrades, and inspections in both the public and private sectors.

“The issue of sick buildings is not only for the government, but it is a private sector matter as well. So we are calling for the government, and particularly the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Environment, to sit down with us and let us come up with an overall plan that could probably then be discussed with the Office of the Attorney General for enactment into law to probably govern these things,” he said in a press statement.

Senior Minister with responsibility for Planning and Infrastructure Dr William Duguid announced last Friday, a wide maintenance programme to address the issue of deteriorating environmental conditions in several buildings.

Acknowledging that indoor air quality problems, such as malfunctioning air conditioning systems and mould growth, have been primary culprits for the increasing prevalence of sick building syndrome, Duguid said the problem affects not only the well-being of government employees but also their overall productivity. Addressing the issue at a Prioritising the Safety and Health of Public Workers discussion at the Hilton Hotel, he said ensuring that these facilities are managed efficiently and sustainably is critical.

Stressing that the high level of absenteeism within the workforce could be linked to the sick building syndrome, Paul said while there have been talks about the introduction of building codes, a maintenance code is also needed to

ensure workers are not operating in environments that are not safe.

“The Barbados Workers’ Union believes that this is a forward step and a long outstanding step. We have long been complaining and speaking out about the upkeep of these buildings as well as the design of some of these buildings. We have moved away from construction which had natural ventilation to enclosed buildings with artificial air conditioning, which require different levels of maintenance,” Paul said.

“So, we support the initiative and we look forward to hearing more about it and actually the details to really resolve these issues that workers have been complaining about in government buildings for a number of years, where we even saw workers at some point in time removing themselves from workplaces because of environmental conditions.”