Maybe Occupation induced illness

Hello everyone.

I work for a huge telecommunications company, maybe the biggest in Canada!

I have worked in that building for the last 37 years.

 

The company has many many buildings some bigger some smaller. The one I work in is the main hub. The biggest.

The building is 15 stories high with 2 or 3 sub basements.

Each floor is JAMMED FULL with thousands of pieces of equipment that provides phone/internet/cable services to its customers.

In the basements are rows and rows of 8 ft tall backup batteries and generators and massive transformers.

We also have hundreds of thousands of wires on many of the floors and also cable vaults in sub basements which interconnect our many bulidings together underneath this great city of ours.

Not to mention all the cell phones/cumputers/ wireless routers and equipment that we use daily/flourescent  lights,etc etc etc...the list goes on.

Anyway, our bldg was flagged but never tested for high EMFS.

But back in early 90s another similar bldg to ours but not as large, was also flagged the same.

Alot of our buildings were flagged as high emfs but the company did not want to waste a penny protecting the people inside.

In that bldg many people became ill with same type cancer within months of each other. Cancer cluster cells they were called.

The company moved all the people off that floor. They also moved all their equipment off that floor as well. Then the company did their EMF TESTING after all the proof was removed!!!

Those people were moved to another building but their computers at new site were unstable again due to high EMF readings so they again had to be moved.

In our building there are many areas that are totally vacant due to high EMFS readings. Unsafe for people to even enter. One auditorium test center was set up, millions of $$$$ spent also had to be evacuated due to high EMF readings. Everything in that area left behind like an old ghost town you see in the movies. Empty now and full of dust everywhere.

There we all work happily unaware of the possible invisible dangers around us all.

I ended up with pacemaker due to bradycardia. My heart rate had dropped to 30 bpm. I was in hospital for about 4 days in ICU. They could not get my heart rate back up. I was a somewhat healthy 54 year old.

They said I had a type 3 electricsl block. The Doctors all told me worse one ! That I had incedibly bad luck. On our floor a 40 year old mysteriously passed away, maybe heart issues. Then a few months me. Then a few months later another 40 some man passed away also. Maybe all a coincedece? 

Well I have posted my story on this site before but not in much detail, but I have a concern.

If someone might guide me in what to do.

Could my condition have been occupationally induced. I have asked the company and our union to please do EMF TESTING in that building. It has been almost 8 months, I am on short term disability now as I am still trying to get better, but I unfortunately still do not feel well.

The buildings and heath and safety said they would not do any testing. Also emailed me saying they are not EMF experts but say there should be no dangers working in that building.

I am terrified of entering that building again. I came very close to dying myself but fortunately I am still here.

I also know that pacemakers and EMFS do not get along together. What should I do now?

Should I risk going back and taking the chance? I know one day I have to go back.

I worry for my family and myself.  I am afraid of the invisable danger that exists in that building, that it may take away the second chance I was given.

Should I report this to WSIB to investigate? 

I do not want to lose my job but I do not want to lose my life either.

Thanks.

Vince.

 

 


2 Comments

CHB

by Tracey_E - 2018-03-05 12:49:30

Most of us with complete heart block (3rd degree) don't know how we came to get it it. Sometimes medication or infection can bring it on, but usually there is no known cause. It's an electrical short circuit that happens in an otherwise healthy heart. Most of us have no other health issues. 

If you have CHB, there is no fix other than pacing. It doesn't go away on its own, there are no meds that will get the heart rate back up. Sometimes thyroid issues can cause it, mediations such as beta blockers will lower the heart rate, but once that's ruled out the only answer is pacing.

As heart block goes, yes, we have the worst one, but that's relative. The pacer fixes it just the same whatever the degree, we just pace more. As heart conditions go, I've always felt I had a good one because it has a fix. My heart is structurally normal and my sinus node works normally so my own heart is setting the pace. All the pacer is doing is stepping in and telling the ventricles when to beat so the heart stays in sync, completing the broken circuit. It's a relatively simple fix that leaves us with a normal, healthy active life. 

If you've been out of work for 8 months it sounds like something else is going on? Not everyone bounces back quickly, but anything over a month is not normal for simply getting a pacer for heart block.

Pacers are very well shielded so EMF is not generally an issue. You are perfectly safe at work. I've heard of people who work in industrial settings get someone from the pacer manufacturer to go into their workplace and test for safety, however they were around heavy industrial equipment with large magnets, not computers. 

I would say the coworkers having developed the same thing from EMF is a long shot. Even if they did suddenly develop CHB, people don't fall over dead from it, they feel bad and end up with pacers just like you did. There are facilities all over the world with set ups like what you describe and there is not an epidemic of CHB. It's still considered very rare. We all want to know why, that's normal, but very few of us get those answers. Whatever the cause, you now have the fix. Look forward, not back. 

Is EMF the problem?

by Gotrhythm - 2018-03-05 14:34:32

I hear your concern. But I don't think a crude measure of EMF will supply the answer you need i.e. whether your workplace is safe to return to or not.

You clearly wonder if high EMF caused your heart problem in the first place. That would be very hard to know. After all, other people who don't work where you do have heart block too. Sometimes the cause is known, a lot of times it's not. So you might have gotten it no matter where you worked. 

Like Tracey, I wonder what else is going on. On the one hand you say the company doesn't care about the safety of workers, and on the other, you say workers have been moved from unsafe environments.

Maybe you could find someone to help you sort out the cause of your fears and find the answers that would reassure you.

You know you're wired when...

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