Was this mass hysteria?
Outbreak of office illness still baffles
Areport into an incident that put a dozen Qantas staff in hospital after they smelled an unknown substance in a downtown Auckland high-rise has failed to find a cause — strengthening suspicions it was mass hysteria.
Psychogenic, also known as psychosomatic, is when an illness is caused by “your psychology rather than being a medical cause”, said University of Auckland forensic physician and social contagion expert Felicity Goodyear-Smith.
WorkSafe’s report on its investigation of the incident in Victoria St’s Augusta Building, released to the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act, showed numerous tests took place after the alarm was raised twice in the same location one day in May.
In the second incident three Qantas workers went to hospital and 100 other workers had health checks. But no cause was found. “We have been unable to identify whether there was ever any type of gas. And, if there was a gas, the type and source of the substance that caused the reaction to multiple Qantas staff members,” wrote WorkSafe inspector Lea Wakefield.
They eliminated natural gas or freon leaks. Hospital blood tests of some of those unwell showed nothing and a contractor found the air conditioning was fine.
Occupational hygienist Philippa Gibson told WorkSafe carbon monoxide potentially rising through the fresh air system from a parked truck, and burning of bitumen roof tile products on a nearby building, were unlikely to be concentrated enough to have contributed to the first incident about 8am.
There had been no further reports of incidents at the building and there were also no ongoing health issues with affected staff, Wakefield wrote.
According to Wakefield’s report, emergency services were called after 12 Qantas workers on level 8 noticed strong smells and suffered from nausea, vomiting, a metallic taste, sore eyes, feeling heavy and having burning throats. They were discharged the same day.
The building was evacuated but by 6.30pm occupants had returned and another three Qantas workers felt unwell. They were taken to hospital.
“It was believed by attending medical staff that these three had unrelated conditions . . . possibly psychosomatic.”
Qantas Airways corporate communications senior manager Stephen Moynihan said although three staff were noted in the report as having possible psychosomatic conditions, 12 others were “hospitalised and treated for a range of symptoms”.
Goodyear-Smith said psychogenic symptoms were real, with the cause psychological. The Augusta incident sounded like social contagion. “It’s a typical situation where you have people who, for instance, smell something and . . . they interpret it as something harmful, and [then] a few other people talk about it.
“If you’re anxious that this . . . has harmed you, then you will get symptoms and the symptoms are real.
“You may feel short of breath, have stinging eyes, feel a bit nauseous. If you’re in contact with other people who feel the same, it’s contagious.”