Hi everyone, My sister has just phoned me from Ireland, she is a nurse and the hospital she is working in, is currently a building site, she said for the last 2 days she has has a pounding headache, and feels ill in general, feels like she has D&V but is not actually having D&V. And wants to know where she stands on this, she got sent home from work today ill. The patients are still in the hospital, and staff are still working. Others have also felt these effects. So, I dont know where to start with this, I think it could be some sort of gas poisioning,but dont know what kind. She said it smells like hot sewer and rotten eggs. I've told her to go her GP today to get checked out. She said an incident report has gone in for the last 3 nights but nothing has been done about it. Because its a hospital they are brushing it all under the carpet and saying nothing or doing nothing. Can anyone advise me on this.

Hi Kate, ya thats what I had thought, which kind of all links into the sewer smell. She is not looking to take on the hospital but more to get things sorted for herself/ co workers and patients. Its not right, but Ive not dealt with this before and really dont know how to advise her. She said the hospital H&S Manager is having nothing to do with it, so I suggested she ring the HSA (irish version of HSE) and complain.

Lawlee what kinds of work are being undertaken? Is it a steal frame construction? Had a similar situation a few years ago when a new building was being constructed next to ours and the frame was being fire treated. Some people reported similar "symptoms" you describe. No health effects were ever established more a psycho somatic issue - bad small made them feel bad. Hopefully its more like that than a really serious issue

Although there's some comfort to be had if you can smell it - at high concentration it anaesthetises your sense of smell. You stop smelling it at levels lower than that which will kill you, but it's not something I'd necessarily want to rely on as a safe method of working. H2S stinks horribly at levels well below dangerous - you can smell it at tiny fractions of parts per million, but LTEL (ie, 8 hrs exposure per 24 hours allowable limit) is 5 PPM.

Have the patients visitors made complaints, over the smell ?. They may carry more weight than employees as they would not be shy of contacting the media etc. Just wondering if they have had complaints from all quarters ?.

Working in an acute hospital there are some incidents of fumes backing up from sewers but those I have been involved with are easily identified and resolved. If a number of staff have been affected would suggest that someone contacts the HSA directly and informs them what staff are suffering from. They should then make contact with the hospital and if required make further investigations.

Hi Lawlee Has your sister contacted the hospital Estates department to ask them to liaise with the builders who are carrying out the work which may be causing the smell? The Estates department may be able to investigate the smell by themselves too. Just a thought. Cheers, Sunny.

Lawlee Has your sister or any of her colleagues tried to contact the OS&H adviser/s for the hospital or the organisation which runs it? In view of the fact that this forum is used mainly by OS&H professionals, it's surprising that this suggestion hasn't been made already. If the relevant adviser/s don't already know of a problem, surely it would be within their remit to investigate and liaise as necessary with appropriate managers and engineers regarding remedial action. As an aside, by what means, if any, are hospital employees informed who advises about OS&H at the hospital and how to contact the advisers? On a wider note for forum users who work as advisers in organisations, do your organisation's employees (irrespective of role and status) generally know you exist and how to contact you regarding what sorts of issues? If they don't, you shouldn't be surprised if the first intimation you have about a potentially significant problem is from an HSE inspector or other enforcing agent who has received a complaint/query from one or more employees!

Hi, I have over a decade of experience in the waste water industry. The smell of rotten eggs is usually associated with hydrogen sulphide. This gas (which is derived from anaerobic bacterial action upon the sewage) can be extremely dangerous. In high enough concentrations it is fatal but in lower concentrations it can cause sickness. One of the key points with it is that in higher concentrations it paralyses the olfatory receptors in the nose (apologies if spelt incorrectly), so people often experience a sudden smell of rotten eggs and then nothing. I would suggest that someone approaches the contractor to view their method statement and risk assessments relating to the work. If their is no mention of their work involving working with or near to sewage then I would recommend an immediate review. If there is then what were the risks and controls? There is a lot of detection equipment available, to buy or hire which can be used to detect H2S, so it should be fairly easy for the contractor to implement a safe system of work relating to the risks associated with working with sewage.

Quote. "heating on full blast to keep the place warm owing to partition walls". Maybe another source of headaches, dehaydration? You need to check out not only all things that have changed recently but also any potential sources from within the hospital and not just focus on the most obvious adjacent construction project. It could be from either. p48

The incident reports have gone into the H&S Adviser and they have not heard back, my sister tried to contact him/her yesterday to no avail.

Her own words on this one re: H&S Advisor. She has tried to contact him/her with no response.

Of course we don’t know the full story but taken at face value the H&S adviser seems a bit lax. On our site we often get complaints of bad smells (We have labs and other sciency stuff going on). They way the labs are ventilated it is almost impossible for smell or fumes from labs to get out into corridors or offices. When these smells occur it is always down to smelly air being drawn in through the air conditioning system or open windows using from the surrounding farmers’ fields. Despite this whenever a complaint about smell is noted we: a) Investigate it and try to establish the source b) Establish if it is a risk to human health c) If it was established as a risk to human health then we would do something about it. d) If it is just an environmental issue we would try to minimise it, as far as we can e) And if it was merely a nuisance, out of our control, we would inform staff who had been exposed that it was not a health hazard and try to reassure them. That is the key thing talking to staff, keeping them informed. You have got to do something, not ignore it.