The City of Santa Barbara is investigating levels of radon at one of its police stations. The testing follows several months of searching for a possible link between employee health and the condition of the building located at 215 East Figueroa Street.
Last spring the police chief contacted the city and requested the Risk Management Division look into any possible concerns. The city says it investigated for several months and did not find any possible health hazards.
Sgt. Riley Harwood is with the Santa Barbara Police Dept. He says the building's age is concerning.
"Two [employees] died and five became ill. That could be completely unrelated to anything going on here at this building, but it's one of these things that causes people concern," said Harwood.
Kristy Schmidt is the city's administrative services director and says the city wants to do everything to make sure employees are safe.
"Particularly for people like our police officers who face dangers in the field, we want to make sure that they feel like when they're at work and their in the building that they're safe there," said Schmidt. "We'll continue to do what we can to reassure them of that fact."
The city is planning to do additional mold testing next.
