DCHAS-L Archives ยท Post dated July 28, 2011
From: Debbie M. Decker <dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**UCDAVIS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Odor
Date: Jul 28, 2011 15:54 UTC
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <4E314E0E0200005E0008F953**At_Symbol_Here**gw.ncsu.edu>
Personal Fave: during the "white powder" heightened awareness several years ago, I responded to a call about a white powder that had contaminated a student backpack. I arrived on scene to find a very frightened young person, her professor and classmates, milling about waiting for "someone" who could "do something." I asked her where her backpack was and she pointed to her backpack, against the front wall of the classroom, under a blackboard (you can see it coming). Had she noticed any white powder on her backpack before class? No, not until this class. And then I gently pointed out that she had dropped her backpack under the blackboard and the white powder was probably chalk dust and she could just dust it off. No, she didn't want to chance it. I explained to her that I was happy to take her backpack away and put it into the incinerator drum we had at the haz waste facility for these types of situations. But once she made that decision, she would not be able to access her backpack and it would be shipped to Utah, to the fiery furnace. Taking a deep breath, she decided it probably was chalk dust and that taking away her backpack wouldn't be necessary. Brave girl. :-) -----Original Message----- From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Ke n Kretchman Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 8:55 AM To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Odor popcorn actually..late afternoon after long day .. respond to a call of burning odor.. travel across long building to office of complaint. He says it smells like burnt popcorn and takes me to the office door of where he feels the smell originates.. knock at door and person answers door with bag of popcorn in hand. Top notch IH work .. Sorry I could not resist either and we all have a million stories like this one but certainly better things to do as well so my apologies for continuation.. Kenneth Kretchman, CSP, CIH Director, Environmental Health and Safety NC State University Raleigh, NC 27695-8007 919-515-6860 (p) 919-515-6307 (f) ken_kretchman**At_Symbol_Here**ncsu.edu >>> Mark Grossman <qed**At_Symbol_Here**WESTNET.COM> 7/27/2011 8:33 PM >>> Then, of course, the root cause could have been the employee who left Chrysler to go to IBM and then decided to pursue higher education at North Carolina State, leaving a trail of old fruit along the way. Sorry, couldn't resist! :-) Mark Mark I. Grossman, CIH, CSP Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Kretchman" <ken_kretchman**At_Symbol_Here**NCSU.EDU> To: <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:07 PM Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Odor > Interesting.. I'm ex-IBM and had the exact "moldy orange" experience > listed below here at NC State. Only different is the desk was in a > complex lab area. These can certainly be tough to pinpoint. > > Some of these can be quite a task to pinpoint. Dry traps, wet > insulation, etc ... A number of years ago we blew theatrical smoke into > the waste line vent pipe on the roof of our chemistry building after a > frustrating run of fugitive odors and had facilities personnel moving > through labs in the building to spot emissions. We found more that one > area with compromised waste drain plumbing. > > > > > Kenneth Kretchman, CSP, CIH > Director, Environmental Health and Safety > NC State University > Raleigh, NC 27695-8007 > 919-515-6860 (p) > 919-515-6307 (f) > ken_kretchman**At_Symbol_Here**ncsu.edu > > > >>>> Alan Hall <ahalltoxic**At_Symbol_Here**MSN.COM> 7/27/2011 1:49 PM >>> > > Rachel, > > Since it is a microbiology laboratory, have you considered any of the > biological organisms that contribute to the problem of "Athlete's foot" > (some are odoriferous fungi) that might be being grown/incubated? Could > there be some cultures of such in there? Certainly, many "moldy" odors > are actually from biological organisms. Could it in fact be that "dirty > socks" are actually dirty socks (as in someone's overlooked gym bag)? > > I'm reminded of a case at a major IBM facility a friend of mine > investigated some years ago of "sick building syndrome" in an office > area that turned out to be a "lost" mouldy orange buried beneath > paperwork in a worker's lower desk drawer (after an expensive IH > evaluation of multiple worker odor complaints had already been done). > > Just a thought. > > Alan > Alan H. Hall, M.D. > Medical Toxicologist. > > > > > Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:57:04 +0000 > From: patty.olinger**At_Symbol_Here**EMORY.EDU > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Odor > To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU > > > > > > > Hi Rachel, Obviously from the responses you=92ve received there could > be several possibilities. Dry traps are usually a good one to start > with. If you (and your facilities and research staff) have exhausted > all possibilities there is also something called =93dirty sock > syndrome=94. Google it and you will see many reference and > discussions. Here is a link with an explanation. > > http://www.foxservice.com/austin/knowledge_base.asp?ID=1291219433792&_per Pg=40&view=articles&_category=Residential%3A%3AAir%20Conditioning%20% 26%20Heating%20&_filterField=Categories > > > We recently had an issue that people described as dirty socks, sewer > gas, etc. After several months found the odor by reviewing the floor > plan of the building and following the pipes in the walls. We found a > couple of uncapped pipes that were no longer in use. > > Good luck, > > Patty > > > Patty Olinger, RBP > Director EHSO > Emory University > 1762 Clifton Rd., Suite 1200 > M.S. 0940-001-1AB > Atlanta, GA 30322 > 404-727-5690 office > 404-727-9778 fax > www.ehso.emory.edu > > > How are we doing? Please take a minute to complete our survey: > http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MRVTPBV > > TEAMWORK...Our Path to Excellence > > > > > "Harrington, Rachel" <rachel.harrington**At_Symbol_Here**ROSALINDFRANKLIN.EDU> wrote: > We have a strong =93dirty socks=94 odor present in one of our micro > labs. It=92s a pretty typical lab using media and cultures, etc. and > we are systematically removing everything and deconning but this odor is > persisting. I know I have smelt this chemical before, maybe back in my > undergraduate days, but it is really a sickening odor. Any ideas? Any > help is greatly appreciated. Thank you! > > Rachel E. Harrington, MPH, CHMM > Director- Office of Environmental, Health and Safety > Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science > 3333 Green Bay Road > North Chicago, IL 60064 > 847-578-3420 work > 224-622-4244 mobile > 847-775-6548 fax > LIFE IN DISCOVERY > > > > > This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of > the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged > information. If the reader of this message is not the intended > recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, > distribution > or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly > prohibited. > > If you have received this message in error, please contact > the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the > original message (including attachments). > >