Our Progress

NIOSH conducts voluntary health hazard evaluations to assess workplace conditions and provide recommendations for controlling occupational health hazards and improving worker safety.

In this situation, NIOSH will work to gather relevant health information and review environmental information, including information gathered by the environmental consultant contracted by NC State. NIOSH will then perform their evaluation applying principles adapted from CDC guidelines for community cancer cluster investigations and produce a report. Following the conclusion of NIOSH’s work, additional information and next steps will be publicly shared.

• All samples, both air and surface, particularly in high-traffic or high-touch areas, were collected with the HVAC turned off in order to get a baseline to measure against for the full building. 
• For each of the 14 indoor air samples collected, all results for PCBs, specifically for Aroclor-1262, were below the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) established exposure levels for evaluating PCBs in school indoor air environments like Poe Hall.
• Approximately two-thirds of 67 surface samples collected had undetectable concentrations of PCBs. Approximately one-third had detectable levels, and all but one of those were well below the EPA threshold.
• Concentrations for both air and surface samples were low overall, but were generally higher on floors 3 through 7 than on floors 1 and 2, which is consistent with the division of HVAC circulation zones in Poe Hall.

• An employee reached out to leadership in the College of Education requesting more information on previous environmental studies of Poe Hall. College leadership connected with NC State Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) regarding an environmental assessment.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Division of the North Carolina Department of Labor (NC DOL) notified NC State that it had received a complaint concerning alleged health and/or safety hazards related to Poe Hall. The complaint asserted that employees had not been informed about the presence, location, and quantity of asbestos-containing materials and that there were concerns that employees may have been exposed to other hazardous substances due the building’s age and ongoing renovation projects.

• EHS conducted limited bulk sampling in the building. The samples detected levels of Aroclor 1262, a commercial mixture of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds, which warranted further investigation. 
• Additional samples (including a surface sample) were collected to validate initial results.
• EHS consulted the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (N.C. DHHS) for guidance. 
• EHS contacted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to request a Health Hazard Evaluation.

• EHS collected new surface samples, air and additional bulk samples in the building. The air samples could not be analyzed for Aroclor 1262, the specific compound first detected in October. 
• The presence of PCBs was preliminarily confirmed and shared with university leadership. University leaders promptly decided to proactively close the building to better understand what potential issues exist.
• Poe Hall closed at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, and occupants were given until Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, to enter and collect any belongings needed to finish the semester.

• NC State partnered with Geosyntec Consultants, a consulting firm with expertise in environmental building assessment in the public and private sectors, to conduct further testing and provide recommendations and guidance, in consultation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA), to NC State on appropriate next steps.
• To prepare for the spring semester, countless teams across the university worked together to relocate more than 230 classes for more than 4,000 students — and to provide convenient spaces to work and teach for the more than 400 faculty, staff and graduate students who previously occupied the building.
• NC State responded to supplemental requests for information from NC DOL.

• NC State retrieved items from the building with guidance from Geosyntec on safe removal and delivery of items to new working locations. 
• Given the ongoing status of the building investigation, NIOSH decided to close the evaluation first opened in the fall. It’s the university’s understanding that the same decision was applied to all open NIOSH evaluations concerning Poe Hall. 
• The university responded to supplemental requests for information from the NC DOL.

• NC State’s environmental consultant, Geosyntec Consultants, delivered its initial phase testing report to university leadership, containing the results of surface and air sampling with the HVAC system turned off.  The report was provided to the EPA. Learn about the findings and next steps here.
• NC State formally requested NIOSH open a new Health Hazard Evaluation on Feb. 12, 2024. NIOSH confirmed the request has been processed and began working with NC State to determine next steps.
• NC State responded to additional requests for information from NC DOL.

• For individual health guidance, N.C. DHHS shared that people can talk to their regular medical provider and follow recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for evidence-based health screenings. Please use the site’s search function to find specific information.
• NIOSH has shared answers to many of the frequently asked questions about HHEs.
• The Environmental Protection Agency shares that PCBs are synthetic chemical compounds widely used in building materials and electrical products primarily between 1950 and 1979; they were formally banned in 1979. There are more than 200 different commercial mixtures of PCB compounds called “Aroclors.” NC State’s preliminary tests, which primarily detected levels of Aroclor 1262, warrant further investigation. You can read more from the EPA here.

The following memo was developed by environmental experts from various publicly available reports by the EPA, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the National Toxicology Program.

To better understand any issues present in Poe Hall, the university is working with Geosyntec Consultants, a consulting firm with expertise in environmental building assessment in the public and private sectors. Geosyntec can also provide toxicology expertise, and has been asked to conduct a more detailed analysis of potential human health effects associated with exposure.

The firm has developed a plan to execute more comprehensive testing of the building, and provide guidance and recommendations to allow individuals limited access to Poe Hall to retrieve belongings and perform critical maintenance projects.

If you have questions about the closure of Poe Hall, please call 919-513-3358 or email ncstateemmc@ncsu.edu.