What are the basic health concerns about mold and mildew?

Mold at work? Health risk I can't prove.?

• Lately at work I have started to have some serious concerns about mold. I work at a Pet store and the room with all the fish system equipment floods pretty regularly, the flooding goes straight through the wall into the next room, so we have always suspected mold might become an issue. In the last week or so I have begun to occasionally smell something that smells more like puke than anything else I can name, co-workers have said its probably Mildew but we dont know for sure. Them last Thursday when in the room where the flooding comes from for about 20 minutes I got hit with a wave of nausea, it was pretty bad... I felt okay about two minutes after I had left the room but I was white as a ghost. Since then I have had the occasional headache both at work and at home, I dont get headaches often. While I suspect mold is the culprit, if we have it, it's in a wall and I cant prove its there but I am really starting to worry that its making me sick but there is a chance I'm just sick, it is that time of year.. who knows right? I also had a non stop runny nose for months despite never having had alergies. I have told both my manger and the store manager. My manager says we cant do anything unless we can see it, at which point we will bleach it. The store manager will make note of it. I have considered getting an air borne bold test kit but they are too expensive and shouldn't be my expense or just going to a doctor but I dont know if the doctor would be able to tell me anything conclusive. What is the best way to approach this? My bosses will not go ahead and put holes in the wall just because I suspect something, the company I work for is not great at throwing money out there just cause there MIGHT be a problem. I could just go to the doctors but this would not be the best time financially to lose out on work. Any advice or input would be appreciated. Thanks =)

• Answer:

  Contact the department of labor or a similar federal or state department you can think of that would handle a situation like this. You can ask your name to remain confidential when you file the complaint. They will tell you what further steps need to be taken and they will probably require your boss to hire someone to test the facility for health hazards. If it is a pet store the only risk isn't for the employees but also for the animals in the store who are being exposed to these conditions so you are not only protecting yourself by taking action but also the animals.