Legionnaires' disease bacteria found in Lodi state office building's water system, union says
From bed bugs to asbestos to now Legionnaires' disease — since returning to the office, California state workers have faced many issues. One is now impacting the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) building in Lodi.
A bacteria that can cause severe pneumonia was found in the tap water at the Lodi building. For SEIU Local 1000, the union that represents state employees, it's one more issue they're now trying to tackle.
"Lodi is not the only case. We're actually getting reports from across the state that you know obviously show a span of multiple agencies, and these are not like isolated cases," said Anica Walls, union president.
The bacteria legionella was found in the water back in June in a pipeline that also supplies water to the building's refrigerators, water fountains and any other line that produces water.
It's caused not only health issues but financial strain on employees.
"These health and safety concerns that workers find themselves returning to the office with are even more frustrating, and just also cause more stressors, right? And financially, it is causing more issues as well," Walls said.
According to the DIR, the office is privately leased and they are already communicating with property management to implement necessary remediation measures.
They also said this bacteria is commonly found in building water systems.
"The health and safety of our employees is of the utmost importance. Staff will be kept informed and any additional guidance or temporary precautions, if needed, will be communicated," the DIR said in a statement.
For the union, this is unacceptable and yet another issue their members are facing.
"One of our Caltrans offices has asbestos in the tiles that are cracking," Walls said. "At the Department of Education, we have some militant stewards who are on top of the bed bugs there... We're going to do everything that we can to make sure that we are responding to the issues our members face. We just want to make sure that when they return to the office, it's in a safe environment."
The DIR also said the federal and state levels of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration do not have a specific standard establishing acceptable levels of legionella in building water systems, but that their broader workplace safety requirements still apply.
We also reached out to San Joaquin County and they said they were not contacted about the issue but noted that there is no requirement to make a report to the county's public health department.
