On the Issue of Mold at the Hilton Anchorage
Image by Brendon Rawlings – Bulk Mold Sample. Lic. under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Because Local 878 represents employees of the Hilton Anchorage, we would like guests to know about some important developments on the issue of mold at the hotel.
On January 6, 2015, the Hilton Anchorage settled citations from the Alaska Occupational Safety and Health agency.
AKOSH cited the Hilton Anchorage for alleged violations of workplace safety regulations on December 12, 2014, after workers had complained in May about possible mold exposure.
AKOSH conducted mold testing during their investigation. In their December 12 letter to Local 878, the agency’s chief of enforcement wrote:
At the time of the inspection (6/20/2014, 9/26/2014, and 10/31/2014), three separate sampling protocols were conducted at various times throughout the hotel. All sampling results indicated the presence of mold to varying levels of count. Citations have been issued.
The AKOSH citations focused on the duty of the Hilton Anchorage to conduct a workplace hazard assessment and to select proper protective equipment for its employees. Hotel management disputed the allegations. As part of its settlement, the hotel agreed to pay reduced penalties of $2,145 and did not admit to violating the cited regulations.
The Hilton Anchorage itself has acknowledged mold at the hotel. On May 6, 2014, hotel management reported working to fix 48 guest rooms where it found mold or the “possibility of water damage,” while indicating that air quality was safe.
Over the following months, the hotel hired outside contractors to perform repairs on the rooms where it had found mold or the possibility of water damage. Hotel management reported on October 10 that repairs had been completed in mid-September. But then on December 3, 2014, the hotel disclosed that further testing on October 23 and November 12 revealed an “elevated mold score” in Room 1030. The hotel reported that it had taken the room out of service for remediation, again by outside contractors.
For more information about what the Hilton Anchorage says it has done to address mold or conditions conducive to mold, or to leave a report on your own experience at the Hilton Anchorage, please go to www.moldreportak.org. You can also contact the general manager, Bill Tokman, at [email protected] or 907-265-7118.
