All 640 workers at the Registry of Motor Vehicles building will be moved out because of respiratory problems, fatigue, headaches and other ailments.
The nine-story, $30 million building has been plagued by worker health problems since it opened in April 1994. Studies indicated the main culprit was fibers from a fire retardant sprayed in the ceilings of the building, said Suzanne Condon, director of the health department’s Bureau of Environmental Health Assessment.
The illnesses prompted a registry workers’ union to go to court seeking a shutdown. The state said Thursday that workers would be moved out by the end of the month. Fixing the problems could take six months.
Spokesmen for Metropolitan Structures/Columbia Plaza Joint Venture, which owns the building, did not return phone calls.
