Two Ohio State employees sued the university Thursday, claiming they contracted a serious lung disease last year while working at Hitchcock Hall.
Olga Stavridis and Amy Franklin, who work at the Ohio State College of Engineering Career Services, became ill with a lung infection called histoplasmosis.
The women became infected after workmen placed fans in the ceiling above Stavridis’s desk, the suit says. The maintenance workers were trying to dry out a suite of offices in Hitchcock after the area became flooded when a pipe burst during the night in March 2009. The fans blew histoplasmosis spores out of the ceiling, the suit says.
The suit states that “space in the ceiling of Hitchock Hall was known to be infested with birds, bats, and mice.”
Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection commonly found in bat and bird droppings.
Also according to the suit, Ohio State “knowingly required” the employees to work in a “dangerous and harmful work environment.”
In November, the university began evacuating dozens of workers after the women were diagnosed.
David Shroyer, their attorney, said he will begin gathering evidence for an eventual trial.
The university did not have a response at this time, said Jim Lynch, director of Media Relations. The university has stated in the past that histoplasmosis is commonly found in the central Ohio region.
“The process could take about a year or two,” Shroyer said. “We’re going to proceed, do depositions and find out exactly what happened,”
