Odor in the Office-dead Rat
turbo
78 Posts
I am the HR director for a small company (105 employees). 60% work out in the shop; the others are in two office areas.
My office area that houses approximately 25 employees has been inundated with a horrible odor - a dead rodent they cannot locate in the wall. We are in the hot Texas sun. We have no windows that open. We are in Southeast Texas. The hotter is get outside, the worse the smell.
Between the candles, the rodent and the air fresheners - the work environment is inhospitable. I have only been with the company for 60 days. Apparently this has happened before. The smell makes some people sick to their stomach - me included. I left yesterday and worked from home - with permission. However, I feel bad for those who stayed. What can I do as an HR director to handle an inhospitable work environment? One of the VPs allowed me to go home to work yesterday - I was choking on the smell. No one else apparently went home, however the sales staff can leave at will to call on clients.
The comptroller confronted me this morning when I returned to work and the smell. The comptroller said "What kind of example does it set for everyone else when you just pick up and leave?" I didn't reply to her.
We have a new employee starting on Monday is sales; I mentioned to the VP that I am concerned the smell might drive the new employee away. His reply was, "If the smell drives him away, then he doesn't belong here." He is the same person who allowed me to work from home yesterday.
What are my duties to the company? What are the company's rights/responsibilities with regard to employees and the environment? What are the rights of the employees to leave the environment?
As I write, my eyes are watering, my throat is burning and I am nauseous. I am exempt, all of the others (with the exception of the 7 others) here are not, and they are hourly employees. Those in the production shop are not affected by the odor.
Need advice on how to handle all areas today and in the future if situation comes up again. I am told it will.
My office area that houses approximately 25 employees has been inundated with a horrible odor - a dead rodent they cannot locate in the wall. We are in the hot Texas sun. We have no windows that open. We are in Southeast Texas. The hotter is get outside, the worse the smell.
Between the candles, the rodent and the air fresheners - the work environment is inhospitable. I have only been with the company for 60 days. Apparently this has happened before. The smell makes some people sick to their stomach - me included. I left yesterday and worked from home - with permission. However, I feel bad for those who stayed. What can I do as an HR director to handle an inhospitable work environment? One of the VPs allowed me to go home to work yesterday - I was choking on the smell. No one else apparently went home, however the sales staff can leave at will to call on clients.
The comptroller confronted me this morning when I returned to work and the smell. The comptroller said "What kind of example does it set for everyone else when you just pick up and leave?" I didn't reply to her.
We have a new employee starting on Monday is sales; I mentioned to the VP that I am concerned the smell might drive the new employee away. His reply was, "If the smell drives him away, then he doesn't belong here." He is the same person who allowed me to work from home yesterday.
What are my duties to the company? What are the company's rights/responsibilities with regard to employees and the environment? What are the rights of the employees to leave the environment?
As I write, my eyes are watering, my throat is burning and I am nauseous. I am exempt, all of the others (with the exception of the 7 others) here are not, and they are hourly employees. Those in the production shop are not affected by the odor.
Need advice on how to handle all areas today and in the future if situation comes up again. I am told it will.
Comments
Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]
Chari
Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]
agency for assistance. You can log onto [url]www.osha.gov[/url] for the phone number of an agency in your area.
If I were you, or anyone who works for you, I'd want to get the samhill out of there myself.
Anne Williams
Attorney Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers, LLC
What are the employment issues for the company and employees?
As far as employees go, while you are resolving the dead rat odor (eeewwww) I would do a few extra things to thank the employees for remaining positive during the situation. Take the group out to lunch if that is an option. (Leaving the building for an hour would be a great reward, I'm sure!) Or when the smell is gone, order food in and post a thank you card in the employee area, showing your appreciation for their support.
As awful as it is, if I were you, I'd continue to work in the building (as long as it's not causing you to suffer health issues) since everyone else has to also. Maybe take turns exiting the area for 15 minute breaks.
Most people are walking around with a tissue on their nose to screen out the air. Some are of course claiming it is 'no big deal'. And I have now been told that by walking out to take a deep breath away from the air fresheners and rat smell and then returning to the building is only making it worse. They claim if we stayed in all day - then we would get used the to smell. There is nothing that can make it worse. This is not an odor to get used to. You can taste it.
I like the suggestion to appreaciate employees, however, this company wouldn't allow that kind of 'event'.
Guess I'll just have to hope for the best and hope I keep my job if I find I need to leave again because of the odor. It is nearly 98 degrees and rat is heating.
Unfortunately, you're in a pickle. It sounds like you called OSHA and they agreed to come out, but the employer is against it. It sounds like you asked to work at home and received permission to do, only to now have it come back to haunt you from the CFO. It sounds like you appreciate your people and are letting them step outside and such, but yet the employer is not appreciating their people enough to get the situation solved. This kind of thing drives me nuts. I don't believe that the issue should have even escalated to this point - and if an employer expects employees to work in that environment and is not willing to compromise or close the office until it can be fixed - I wouldn't work for that employer. Sorry to vent - but it sounds as though the employer is putting people's health and well-being at risk and it's simply not cool. I don't recommend this for really any situation, however, in THIS instance, IF it should happen again, don't tell the employer about the call to OSHA and let OSHA treat it as an anonymous source.
>Turbo - I completely feel for you and, alas, I don't have any
>knowledge of bait or ways to kill the smell as some of the other forum
>members (great information though x:-)).
>
>Unfortunately, you're in a pickle. It sounds like you called OSHA and
>they agreed to come out, but the employer is against it. It sounds
>like you asked to work at home and received permission to do, only to
>now have it come back to haunt you from the CFO. It sounds like you
>appreciate your people and are letting them step outside and such, but
>yet the employer is not appreciating their people enough to get the
>situation solved. This kind of thing drives me nuts. I don't believe
>that the issue should have even escalated to this point - and if an
>employer expects employees to work in that environment and is not
>willing to compromise or close the office until it can be fixed - I
>wouldn't work for that employer. Sorry to vent - but it sounds as
>though the employer is putting people's health and well-being at risk
>and it's simply not cool. I don't recommend this for really any
>situation, however, in THIS instance, IF it should happen again, don't
>tell the employer about the call to OSHA and let OSHA treat it as an
>anonymous source.
It sounds like there is just nowhere else for your team to do their work, and I assume that like my office, you can't just shut down.
There are 8 of us in two offices - I'd just cram us all into one of the offices and make do for a while. Better than dead rat stench. Is that an option for you?
I shared your story, and a person in my office just said if it were OUR office, she'd get a sledgehammer, open up the wall and find the d#$%& rat. Forget asking permission.
Back to the "thank you's" to those who stick it out - thank you cards are inexpensive, and still mean a lot. You could tape a candy bar to each envelope. I'd pay out of my own pocket if I had to, to maintain harmony. Again I know this doesn't FIX the problem, but it makes poeople feel appreciated for what they went through. Sounds like you'll need to pat your OWN back in this case. x;-)
Our Accounting Department was in several offices connected by a hallway. A couple of the ladies are in one office with the door closed because of a known odor. The ladies in the office down the hallway and the file clerk sitting in the hallway - notice a offending odor. Not wanting to wait and see if the odor fades on its own - they begin a full scale search for the DEAD RAT. They open doors, cabinets and proceed to stand outside of the V.P./Owner's Office (whose office is close to the bathroom) - and announce they have isolated the smell to this particular area. The ladies in the office with the door closed come out to see what the commotion is about. They hear the announcement and being to laugh hysterically. They call the search team into their office and inform them the V.P./Owner had been in the bathroom and that is why their door was closed.
He left for the day.
Not any help to your problem - but maybe offered a laugh or two.
There is probably a very good reason the employers don't want OSHA or the Board of Health there, but if they could come anonymously, that would solve your problem.
I would start putting my resume out as these seem to be very insensitive people!
Good luck!
We previously were in a building where some type of odor (a chemical type) carried into the office thru the roof vents (good old Texas wind). One employee had an allergic reaction to it, had to leave work and go to the hospital for a shot. Thankfully, the next day, the office was clear, but, the situation had potential to be a costly WC claim.
The Health Board is an excellent idea. You have my sympathy.
Guess what? Someone contacted OSHA. I understand they have an on-line complaint system and ask whether you wish to remain anonymous. When they showed up, the County promptly resolved the problem. OSHA never divulged the name of the person who made the complaint.
Just a little amazing fact, a "belgian rat" (I think that was right) which is one of those huge guys with the fat tails, can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter (according to the pest control guys).
I think that your company needs to do more. You can pick up the powder at Lowes, Home Depot etc. but I don't remember what it was called. I would make calling the Health Dept the last ditch effort, but if your employer is not willing to do more, that might be the only thing that will get this situation resolved. I believe the employer has a duty to provide a safe and healthly workplace.
My neighbor has little cat critters that come over to visit in my flower beds to try to hijack birds in my bird feeder (the birds are too smart for them). They also stare at me from the backyard when I am on my treadmill and looking out of my back window. I don't chase them away because they do chase away any little mice that might want to come around.
Was you "carcass removal" specialist named Larry, Darrell or Darrell?
We had a family of skunks that used to come in the back door of our warehouse looking for food in the break areas. We couldn't close the doors because of the heat in the summer. We couldn't move the break areas because we covered a million plus square feet and it was too far to walk to the break room at the front of the building. We couldn't shoo them out because.....
We paid a fortune to an exterminator to get them removed without having them spray our stored product. (They do that if you catch them in a trap.) He told me that very few people do skunk removal so he charge about five times the going rate to do it! Think of them as dead rat odor walking.
Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]
I can't imagine having a full time job as a carcass removal specialist, but these guys were very serious and professional. Me, I think I would rather work at McDonald's!