Had an unusual smell appear at work today. Although it permeated a larger area it was concentrated in a conference room outside my office.
Everyone in the agency described the aroma a little differently with most leaning towards burning wood, overheating hot glue gun, and scorched rubber. Since we were having a lunch gathering at noon I thought it was possibly the smells of cooking meandering through the building.
I turned off all the appliances, checked the outlets, etc.
To be safe, I called maintenance and they did a cursory check of the situation with no obvious answers.
Three hours after the end of the lunch gathering the odor increased.
Tried to call maintenance again but it was Friday and everyone was gone.
Tried to call Human Resources - no answer.
Called my administrator who was off for the day and she suggested calling 911.
911 advised me to evacuate the building and they would send the fire department.
I evacuated the building and we waited for the fire department’s investigation. Two fire trucks, EMS, and police arrived quickly.
After about a half hour they could not come up with anything other than perhaps it was the Murphy’s Oil Soap that the cleaning lady had used the day before.
Oh heck no - this was not Murphy’s Oil Soap lol.
The burning smell was still strong at the end of the day with no discenrnable solution.
When I left at 4:30 PM maintenance had magically returned and were investigating the possibility of something with the HVAC system on the roof. Possibly a belt of some sort?
I did experience some light headed feelings, a mild headache and a bit of a sore throat but this could very well be stress and allergies.
Recently we have been experiencing a rodent problem and I am worried that a mouse has chewed into some wires.
If this is indeed the issue, what could be some other symptoms besides the smell?
Both from personal experience and a (former) first responder, don’t wait until “three hours after the end of lunch”; if a cursory inspection doesn’t reveal the smell and turning off appliances doesn’t stop, just go ahead and call 911. Fire service would rather come and inspect your building while its not on fire than to having to come risk their lives rescuing people from a burning structure.
[quote=“Ellecram, post:1, topic:1022121, full:true”] Oh heck no - this was not Murphy’s Oil Soap lol.
The burning smell was still strong at the end of the day with no discenrnable solution.
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I did experience some light headed feelings, a mild headache and a bit of a sore throat but this could very well be stress and allergies.
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Or it could be volatiles being emitted by some smoldering insulation or vaporizing coating. I was once at an event where there was a large campfire (bordering on bonfire) where, unbeknownst to me, people were throwing ‘recycled’ polyethylene terephthalate (PET) laundry soap bottles in the fire (to dispose of them or just because it was fun watching them melt, I guess), and people started feeling ill because one of the constituents of recycled plastic bottles is polyvinyl chloride, which emits toxic gases including hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and dioxins. These are not things you want to be breathing, and especially not in a confined space.
My cousin who used to work in the same county maintenance department that services my agency suggested that it could possibly be the ballasts/light fixtures causing the burning aroma.
I will definitely suggest that to my administrator when I return to work on Monday if the problem persists.
But surely both the maintenance department and the fire department would have thought of that initially?
Non-specific symptoms could be due to an irritating volatile substance, or more likely due to perceptions of something hazardous rather than a true physical reaction.
There are instances of large numbers of people exhibiting deleterious symptoms in reaction to odd smells. Example:
That’s not to suggest that the OP or other affected individuals are crazy or faking it - it’s part of the human condition. Strange odors are common triggers.
Some years back, my department was moved to a brand-new wing of the hospital. The offices and labs were fine except for noticeably marked “new building” smells related to plastics, rugs and other components. I bought a small power air filtration unit for my office, which probably offered little practical benefit, but made me feel like I was doing something to alleviate a potential hazard.
Noticing a persistent odor of burning is definitely something that should be investigated. Calling the fire department in this case was a good idea.
I don’t think it’s a perceptual issue as even the police and fireman did confirm there was an odor but I am open to any and all possibilities at this point!
There’s a lot of stress going on at the moment so maybe???
This.
I’ve seen videos of intentionally set fires (NIOSH) where they have all sorts of camera & (temp) sensors setup in the house before they light it. Once the firemen get the green light to open the door & air rushes in, that small, smoldering fire suddenly takes off as it is no longer oxygen starved. If there was something burning in a closet & someone opens the door, or behind a wall that eventually burns thru it’s not gonna be pretty.
