Monthly Archives: December 2014

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW)- Callers told 13 News the Docking State Building has been infested with bed bugs for the past month.

When asked about it Wednesday, Kansas Department of Revenue spokesperson Jeannine Koranda said she did not know about the problem until Monday, she says a worker went home with a rash from the bed bugs.

Koranda says the problem appears limited to a small section on the third floor of Docking and workers in that section were kept home this week as precautionary measure.

Koranda would not let our news camera into the area -- while Docking is a public building, she says the bedbug problem is in a restricted area.

Department of Administration spokesman John Milburn says the state plans to bring in an exterminator Saturday.

"You always hear the old expression 'sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite' so judging by the nursery rhyme I assume they are not something you want to have. And so we don't want to have a working environment where employees are subjected to bugs of any kind, we want to get this problem taken care of as soon as possible," says John Milburn, Department of Administration.

Milburn told 13 News the bed bug problem should be cleared by next week.

See the article here:
"Sleep Tight Don't Let Bed Bugs Bite"| Nursery Rhyme Becomes Reality At Docking State Buidling

State workers tried not let the bedbugs bite Wednesday, after the itch-inducing insects were discovered in the Docking State Office Building and employees in the affected area were sent home.

John Milburn, spokesman for the Department of Administration, said there were reports of bugs on the third floor of the building and that facilities management, a division of the department, was investigating.

The Kansas Department of Revenue resides on the third floor. Department spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda said an exterminator confirmed Wednesday that bedbugs had been found.

Rebecca Proctor, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, said revenue employees on the third floor were told about the bedbugs in a meeting Wednesday morning. She said an employee who was in the meeting who had spoken with her indicated bedbugs were initially found before Wednesday, but that a nest had now been found in an office chair in a cubicle.

The employee who called us was really concerned about it, because its not like the bedbugs are only going to be in that cubicle, Proctor said.

Koranda initially said the department became aware of an issue on Tuesday.

What I was told was that they were alerted to it yesterday, and we brought in the exterminator, Koranda said.

Koranda then called back later to say a supervisor had identified a suspected bedbug on Monday and at that point an exterminator was contacted. She then said an exterminator examined the area on Tuesday and found bedbugs.

A Revenue employee who works on the third floor, whose name was withheld because of fears of reprisals, said the first bedbug had been found in late November. The individual said department leadership spoke to employees about the bedbug issue for the first time on Wednesday.

Proctor said she had been told by an employee that the area will be isolated in plastic and that the heat will be increased in an effort to kill the insects. Bedbugs die when their body temperature exceeds 113 degrees.

Continued here:
Some state workers sent home after bedbugs found in Docking building